Edinburgh Central (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Constituency profile

The Edinburgh Central constituency is situated in the central-north of the City of Edinburgh. The constituency is a major tourist, financial and retail centre, covering Edinburgh's Old and New Towns, Princes Street, Hay Market, Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Castle and the Scottish Parliament building itself.

The north and west of the constituency is very affluent, covering Victorian suburbs such as Craigleith, Murrayfield, Stockbridge and Orchard Brae, in addition Edinburgh's well-off West End. There is some deprivation towards the south and east of the constituency around Dalry, Dumbiedykes and in patches of Edinburgh's Old Town, although overall the constituency is very affluent.^[2]

Voting patterns

In the 2007 City of Edinburgh local council election, the Liberal Democrats emerged as the largest party in wards covered by the Edinburgh Central constituency. In the 2012 local election, the Conservatives and Scottish National Party formed the two largest parties in the area. The Conservatives were ahead in 6 of the 8 electoral wards covering the Edinburgh Central constituency in the 2017 City of Edinburgh local council election.

Traditionally this constituency has been represented by the Labour Party, with the Liberal Democrats forming the main opposition. From the formation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 until the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the constituency of Edinburgh Central was represented by Labour's Sarah Boyack. With a re-arrangement of the constituency boundaries in 2011, which would have been won by the Liberal Democrats in 2007, the constituency narrowly returned the SNP's Marco Biagi, who gained the constituency with a slender majority of 237 votes. In 2016 the Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, Ruth Davidson, gained the constituency from the SNP with a majority of 610 votes.

In the UK Parliament, the Edinburgh Central constituency was represented by the Labour Party almost continuously from the 1945 UK general election until the constituency was abolished in 2005, voting Conservative once in 1983.

Constituency votes

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: Edinburgh Central
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Y Ruth Davidson		10,399	30.4%	15.4%	9,946	29.1%	21.5%
	SNP	Alison Dickie		9,789	28.6%	4.0%	8,962	26.2%	16.6%
	Labour	Sarah Boyack		7,546	22.1%	9.8%	5,899	17.3%	13.7%
	Scottish Green	Alison Johnstone		4,644	13.6%	13.6%	5,799	17.0%	13.3%
	Liberal Democrats	Hannah Bettsworth		1,672	4.9%	15.6%	2,048	6.0%	3.2%
	Libertarian	Tom Laird		119	0.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Women's Equality						743	2.2%	N/A
	UKIP						395	1.2%	0.6%
	RISE						284	0.8%	N/A
	Solidarity						90	0.3%	N/A
Informal votes				107			68
Total Valid votes				34,276			34,166
	Conservative gain from SNP		Majority	610	2.9%	N/A

The seat underwent boundary changes between the 2007 and 2011 elections.

^[3]

Regional List votes