Edinburgh North and Leith (UK Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh North and Leith
Burgh constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of Edinburgh North and Leith in Scotland.
Subdivisions of Scotland City of Edinburgh
Current constituency
Created 1997
Member of parliament Deidre Brock (SNP)
Created from Edinburgh Leith
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency Scotland

Edinburgh North and Leith is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (at Westminster), first used in the 1997 general election. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

In 1999, a Scottish Parliament constituency was created with the same name and boundaries. See Edinburgh North and Leith (Scottish Parliament constituency). The boundaries of the Westminster constituency were altered, however, in 2005, and the Scottish Parliament constituency retained the older boundaries until 2011. Since then, the seat has mainly been split between the Edinburgh Northern and Leith and Edinburgh Central constituencies at Holyrood, with a small area also located in Edinburgh Western.

Boundaries

When created in 1997, Edinburgh North and Leith was largely a replacement for the Edinburgh Leith constituency, and was one of six constituencies covering the City of Edinburgh council area. One of those six, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh straddled the boundary with the East Lothian council area to take in Musselburgh. In terms of wards used in elections to the City of Edinburgh Council between 1995 and 2007, the constituency included the wards of Broughton, Calton, Granton, Harbour, Lorne, New Town, Newhaven, Pilton, Stockbridge and Trinity.

Constituency boundaries in Scotland were revised for the 2005 election. The number of constituencies within the city was reduced from six to five, each now entirely within the city area, and Musselburgh was re-united with the remainder of East Lothian.[1] A new Edinburgh North and Leith constituency was created, including the whole of the former one, but also taking in the Dean ward from Edinburgh Central and Craigleith ward from Edinburgh West.

As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, these wards were replaced with new, larger wards for the Council elections on 3 May 2007. The constituency now includes parts of the new wards of Leith, Leith Walk, Forth, Inverleith and City Centre, but none of these exclusively. Collectively these wards contain 5 Liberal Democrat councillors, 5 SNP, 4 Labour, 3 Conservatives and 1 Green. There was a by-election in the Forth ward in November 2008 following the death of Elizabeth Maginnis (Lab), which was won by Cameron Day (Lab), keeping the political balance the same.

The constituency is urban, and covers several northern communities of the city, as well as most of the former burgh of Leith, which controversially merged with Edinburgh in 1920. It has the highest proportion of residents living in tenements and flats of any parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, but also has a high relative proportion of university graduates. It includes a mix of leafy, expensive residential areas in the South and West of the constituency and densely populated areas nearer Leith with more young professionals and students, as well as older residents whose families have lived there during several previous generations.

It also includes Calton Hill, the shops and offices on the northern side of Princes Street, Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland, St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, the Edinburgh Playhouse, the Edinburgh Waterfront, the stretch of the Water of Leith from Dean Village to Leith Harbour, the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Western General Hospital and the private schools of Fettes College, the Edinburgh Academy, The Mary Erskine School and Stewart's Melville College and Telford College.

Member of Parliament

ElectionMember[2] Party
1997 Malcolm Chisholm Labour
2001 Mark Lazarowicz Labour
2015 Deidre Brock SNP

Election results

Elections of the 2010s

General Election 2015: Edinburgh North and Leith[3] [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
SNP Deidre Brock 23,742 40.9 +31.3
Labour Co-op Mark Lazarowicz[5] 18,145 31.3 -6.2
Conservative Iain McGill[6] 9,378 16.2 +1.3
Scottish Green Sarah Beattie-Smith[7] 3,140 5.4 +3.2
Liberal Democrat Martin Veart[8] 2,634 4.5 -29.3
UKIP Alan Melville[9] 847 1.5 n/a
Left Unity Bruce Whitehead[10] 122 0.2 n/a
Majority 5,597 9.6
Turnout 58,008 71.7 +3.3
SNP gain from Labour Co-op Swing +18.7
General Election 2010: Edinburgh North and Leith[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Co-op Mark Lazarowicz 17,740 37.5 +3.2
Liberal Democrat Kevin Lang 16,016 33.8 +4.6
Conservative Iain McGill 7,079 14.9 -3.7
SNP Calum Cashley 4,568 9.6 -0.5
Scottish Green Kate Joester 1,062 2.2 -3.6
Liberal John Hein 389 0.8 n/a
TUSC Willie Black 233 0.5 n/a
Socialist Labour David Jacobsen 141 0.3 n/a
Majority 1,724 3.6
Turnout 47,356 68.4 +6.0
Labour Co-op hold Swing -0.7

Elections of the 2000s

General Election 2005: Edinburgh North and Leith
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Co-op Mark Lazarowicz 14,597 34.2 -11.7
Liberal Democrat Mike Crockart 12,444 29.2% +9.8
Conservative Iain Whyte 7,969 18.7% +4.8
SNP Davie Hutchison 4,344 10.2% -5.7
Scottish Green Mark Sydenham 2,482 5.8% +5.8
Scottish Socialist Bill Scott 804 1.9% -2.1
Majority 2,153 5.0%
Turnout 42,640 62.7 +8.8
Labour Co-op hold Swing -8.3
General Election 2001: Edinburgh North and Leith
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Co-op Mark Lazarowicz 15,271 45.9 -1.0
Liberal Democrat Sebastian Tombs 6,454 19.4 +6.4
SNP Kaukab Stewart 5,290 15.9 -4.2
Conservative Iain Mitchell 4,626 13.9 -4.0
Scottish Socialist Catriona Grant 1,334 4.0 +3.2
Socialist Labour Don Jacobsen 259 0.8 N/A
Majority 8,817 26.5
Turnout 33,234 53.0 -13.5
Labour Co-op hold Swing

Elections of the 1990s

General Election 1997: Edinburgh North and Leith
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Co-op Malcolm Chisholm 19,209 46.9 N/A
SNP Anne Dana 8,231 20.1 N/A
Conservative Ewen Stewart 7,312 17.9 N/A
Liberal Democrat Hillary Campbell 5,335 13.0 N/A
Referendum Sandy Graham 441 1.1 N/A
Scottish Socialist Gavin Browne 320 0.8 N/A
Natural Law Paul Douglas-Reid 97 0.2 N/A
Majority 10,978 26.8 N/A
Turnout 66.5 N/A
Labour hold Swing

See also

Notes and references

Coordinates: 55°58′09″N 3°11′59″W / 55.96917°N 3.19972°W / 55.96917; -3.19972

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