Edinburgh West (UK Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh West
Burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Edinburgh West in .
Subdivisions of Scotland	City of Edinburgh
Current constituency
Created	1885
Member of parliament	Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat)
Created from	Edinburgh
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Scotland

Map of Constituency

Edinburgh West is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, first used at the 1885 general election.^{[n 1]}

Before the 2005 general election, the boundaries were the same as the Scottish Parliament constituency with the same name, which had been created in 1999. See Edinburgh West (Scottish Parliament constituency).

This commuter belt seat, distinctively in the city, was safely Unionist/Conservative for over 65 years, from the 1931 general election until the 1997 general election, after which the seat was held by the Liberal Democrats until the 2015 general election. The MP between the 2015 and 2017 general elections was Michelle Thomson, who was elected for the SNP in May 2015. In September 2015, she resigned the party whip and sat as an Independent. At the 2017 general election, Christine Jardine of the Liberal Democrats gained the seat with a majority of 2,988 votes. Thomson chose to neither seek re-election for the SNP, or as an Independent candidate and stood down.^[1]

The seat has been relative to others a marginal seat since 2005, as the winner's majority has not exceeded 8.2% of the vote since the 30% majority won in that year. The seat has changed hands twice electorally since that year and once through resigning the party whip.

Boundaries

The seat was created when the Edinburgh constituency was abolished, in 1885, replaced by four seats: Edinburgh East, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh South and Edinburgh West. The Central constituency was abolished in 2005. The East constituency was abolished in 1997, but a new Edinburgh East was created in 2005. The South and West constituencies have been in continuous use (with alterations to boundaries) since 1885.

The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 provided that the seat was to consist of the Municipal Wards of St. Andrew, St. Stephen, St. Bernard, and St. Luke.^[2]

In 1918 the seat legally consisted of the Dalry, Gorgie, Haymarket and St. Bernard's Municipal Wards of Edinburgh.

Before the 2005 general election, the seat was one of six covering the City of Edinburgh council area. Five were entirely within the city council area. One, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, straddled the boundary with the East Lothian council area to take in Musselburgh.

Constituency boundaries were revised for the 2005 election: Edinburgh West was enlarged, to include an area formerly within Edinburgh Central, and became one of five seats covering the city area.^[3]

The seat now covers a north western portion of the city area. It is mostly suburban, but takes in rural areas within the city area, to the west of central Edinburgh. In terms of wards used in elections to the City of Edinburgh Council, 1999 to 2007, the seat comprises:-

• Cramond, Dalmeny and Kirkliston, Davidson's Mains, East Craigs, Gyle, Muirhouse and Drylaw, Murrayfield, North East Corstorphine, Queensferry, South East Corstorphine and Stenhouse.

These wards were replaced with new wards in 2007, as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, and none of the new wards were wholly within the constituency. Almond and Constorphine/Murrayfield are almost entirely within it except for a small corner of each one. The constituency also includes a majority of Drum Brae/Gyle, a minority of Pentland Hills and small sections of Forth, Inverleith, City Centre and Sighthill/Gorgie.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Edinburgh West^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Mathers	15,795	38.6	+5.5
	Unionist	Wilfrid Normand	12,966	31.7	−4.9
	Liberal	Vivian Phillipps	12,126	29.7	−0.6
Majority			2,829	6.9	N/A
Turnout			40,887	74.8	−4.5
Registered electors			54,695
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+5.2

General Election 1924: Edinburgh West^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Ian Macintyre	10,628	36.6	+3.6
	Labour	George Mathers	9,603	33.1	+7.4
	Liberal	Vivian Phillipps	8,790	30.3	−11.0
Majority			1,025	3.5	N/A
Turnout			29,021	79.3	+4.9
Registered electors			36,618
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	−1.9

Phillipps

General Election 1923: Edinburgh West^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Vivian Phillipps	11,010	41.3	−10.1
	Unionist	Ian Macintyre	8,778	33.0	−15.6
	Labour	George Mathers	6,836	25.7	N/A
Majority			2,232	8.3	+5.5
Turnout			26,624	74.4	+5.5
Registered electors			35,809
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.8

Vivian Phillipps

General Election 1922: Edinburgh West ^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Vivian Phillipps	12,355	51.4	+16.9
	Unionist	John Gordon Jameson	11,689	48.6	−2.2
Majority			666	2.8	N/A
Turnout			24,044	68.9	+15.6
Registered electors			34,899
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+9.6

Elections in the 1900s

By-election, 1909: Edinburgh West^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	James Avon Clyde	Unopposed
	Liberal Unionist hold

Courtney

General Election 1906: Edinburgh West^[30][29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	Lewis McIver	3,949	52.0	−9.2
	Liberal	Leonard Courtney	3,643	48.0	+9.2
Majority			306	4.0	−18.4
Turnout			7,592	85.0	+8.5
Registered electors			8,930
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	+9.2

General Election 1900: Edinburgh West^[30][29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Unionist	Lewis McIver	4,180	61.2	N/A
	Liberal	E. Adam	2,645	38.8	N/A
Majority			1,535	22.4	N/A
Turnout			6,825	76.5	N/A
Registered electors			8,926
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

See also

• Politics of Edinburgh

Notes and references

References

Notes

Coordinates: 55°57′09″N 3°19′58″W / 55.95250°N 3.33278°W / 55.95250; -3.33278