Edinburgh Central (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Edinburgh Central (UK Parliament constituency).

Edinburgh Central
burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament

Edinburgh Central shown within the Lothian electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Scottish Conservative Party
MSP	Ruth Davidson MSP
Council area	City of Edinburgh

Edinburgh Central is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, it is one of nine constituencies in the Lothian electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

The constituency was created with the name and boundaries of a constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). The Westminster constituency was later abolished, in 2005. See Edinburgh Central (UK Parliament constituency).

Since 1999, the constituency MSP has been an ex officio member of the Board of Trustees of the National Library of Scotland. From 1925 until 1999, that role had been taken by the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Westminster constituency.

The constituency was one of the few areas to vote "Yes" in the 2011 UK Alternative Vote referendum held on the same day as the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.

Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the Lothian region are Almond Valley, Edinburgh Eastern, Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh Southern, Edinburgh Western, Linlithgow and Midlothian North and Musselburgh

The region includes all of the City of Edinburgh council area, parts of the East Lothian council area, parts of the Midlothian council area and all of the West Lothian council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

The City of Edinburgh is represented in the Scottish Parliament by six constituencies: Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Eastern, Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh Southern and Edinburgh Western.

The Edinburgh Central constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies.^[1]

In time for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the seat of Edinburgh Central has been redrawn. Each electoral ward used in the creation of the redrawn Central is split, shared with neighbouring constituencies.

Inverleith (shared with Edinburgh Northern and Leith and Edinburgh Western)
Corstorphine/Murrayfield (shared with Edinburgh Western)
Sighthill/Gorgie (shared with Edinburgh Pentlands and Edinburgh Southern)
Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart (shared with Edinburgh Southern)
Meadows/Morningside (shared with Edinburgh Southern)
City Centre (shared with Edinburgh Eastern)
Southside/Newington (shared with Southern)

Member of the Scottish Parliament

	Member	Party
1999	Sarah Boyack	Scottish Labour Party
2003
2007
2011	Marco Biagi	Scottish National Party
2016	Ruth Davidson	Scottish Conservative Party

Election results

Ruth Davidson

Constituency votes

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: Edinburgh Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Ruth Davidson	10,399	30.4	+15.4
	SNP	Alison Dickie	9,789	28.6	-4.0
	Labour	Sarah Boyack	7,546	22.1	-9.8
	Scottish Green	Alison Johnstone ^[2]	4,644	13.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Hannah Bettsworth	1,672	4.9	-15.6
	Libertarian	Tom Laird	119	0.3	N/A
Majority			610	1.8
Turnout			34,169	57.3	+2.8
	Conservative gain from SNP		Swing	+9.7

Marco Biagi

^[3]

Scottish Parliament election, 2011: Edinburgh Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Marco Biagi	9,480	32.7	+10
	Labour	Sarah Boyack	9,243	31.9	+3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Alex Cole-Hamilton	5,937	20.5	-10.3
	Conservative	Iain McGill	4,354	15.0	-3.3
Majority			237	0.8
Turnout			29,014	54.5	+1.6
	SNP gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	3.2

Sarah Boyack

Scottish Parliament election, 2007 Notional Result: Edinburgh Central
Party		Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	8,679	30.8
	Labour	7,960	28.2
	SNP	6,392	22.6
	Conservative	5,173	18.3
	Others	20	0.1
Majority		719	2.5
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour	Swing

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Edinburgh Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Sarah Boyack	9,155	31.1	-1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Siobhan Mathers	7,962	27.1	+4.3
	SNP	Shirley-Anne Somerville	7,496	25.5	+7.8
	Conservative	Fiona Houston	4,783	16.3	-0.8
Majority			1,193	4.1	-5.42
Turnout			29,396	52.9	+6.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Scottish Parliament election, 2003: Edinburgh Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Sarah Boyack	9,066	32.36	−5.66
	Liberal Democrats	Andy Myles	6,400	22.85	+6.31
	SNP	Kevin Pringle	4,965	17.72	−7.93
	Conservative	Peter Finnie	4,802	17.14	+1.05
	Scottish Socialist	Catriona Grant	2,552	9.11	+6.89
	Scottish Peoples Alliance	James O'Neill	229	0.82	+0.82
Majority			2,666	9.52	−2.85
Turnout			28,014	46.06	−10.67
	Labour hold		Swing

Scottish Parliament election, 1999: Edinburgh Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Sarah Boyack	14,224	38.02	N/A
	SNP	Ian McKee	9,598	25.65	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Andy Myles	6,187	16.54	N/A
	Conservative	Jacqui Low	6,018	16.09	N/A
	Scottish Socialist	Kevin Williamson	830	2.22	N/A
Majority			4,626	12.37	N/A
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

Regional List votes

Scottish Parliament election, 2011: Edinburgh Central (additional member vote)
List		Candidates	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Regional list	8,768	30.0	+7.1
	Labour	Regional list	5,716	19.6	-2.9
	Conservative	Regional list	4,659	15.9	+2.2
	Scottish Green	Regional list	4,213	14.4	+2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Regional list	2,849	9.7	-5.7
	Independent	Margo MacDonald	1,988	6.8	+0.6
	Others	Regional lists	1,037	3.5	-3.7
Turnout			29,230	54.5

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Edinburgh Central (additional member vote)
List		Candidates	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Regional list	6,876	22.9
	Labour	Regional list	6,756	22.5
	Liberal Democrats	Regional list	4,621	15.4
	Conservative	Regional list	4,107	13.7
	Scottish Green	Regional list	3,619	12.1
	Independent	Margo MacDonald	1,844	6.2
	Others	Regional lists	2,172	7.2
Turnout			29,995

Scottish Parliament election, 2003: Edinburgh Central (additional member vote)
List		Candidates	Votes	%	±
	Scottish Green	Regional list	5,534	19.6
	Labour	Regional list	5,278	18.7
	Conservative	Regional list	4,328	15.3
	SNP	Regional list	3,425	12.1
	Liberal Democrats	Regional list	3,258	11.5
	Independent	Margo MacDonald	2,817	9.9
	Others	Regional lists	3,602	12.8
Turnout			28,242

Footnotes

↑ See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland
↑ "Green MSP Alison Johnstone in Edinburgh Central bid". Edinburgh Evening News. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
↑ Statement of Persons Nominated Edinburgh Council

References

« 1999–2011 « Electoral regions and constituencies of the Scottish Parliament 2011–

Central Scotland	Airdrie and Shotts Coatbridge and Chryston Cumbernauld and Kilsyth East Kilbride Falkirk East Falkirk West Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Motherwell and Wishaw Uddingston and Bellshill

Glasgow	Glasgow Anniesland Glasgow Cathcart Glasgow Kelvin Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn Glasgow Pollok Glasgow Provan Glasgow Shettleston Glasgow Southside Rutherglen

Highlands and Islands	Argyll and Bute Caithness, Sutherland and Ross Inverness and Nairn Moray Na h-Eileanan an Iar Orkney Shetland Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch

Lothian	Almond Valley Edinburgh Central Edinburgh Eastern Edinburgh Northern and Leith Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh Southern Edinburgh Western Linlithgow Midlothian North and Musselburgh

Mid Scotland and Fife	Clackmannanshire and Dunblane Cowdenbeath Dunfermline Kirkcaldy Mid Fife and Glenrothes North East Fife Perthshire North Perthshire South and Kinross-shire Stirling

North East Scotland	Aberdeen Central Aberdeen Donside Aberdeen South and North Kincardine Aberdeenshire East Aberdeenshire West Angus North and Mearns Angus South Banffshire and Buchan Coast Dundee City East Dundee City West

South Scotland	Ayr Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Clydesdale Dumfriesshire East Lothian Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire Galloway and West Dumfries Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley Midlothian South, Tweeddale, and Lauderdale

West Scotland	Clydebank and Milngavie Cunninghame North Cunninghame South Dumbarton Eastwood Greenock and Inverclyde Paisley Renfrewshire North and West Renfrewshire South Strathkelvin and Bearsden

Electoral regions and Constituencies of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2011 » 2011– »

Central Scotland	Airdrie and Shotts Coatbridge and Chryston Cumbernauld and Kilsyth East Kilbride Falkirk East Falkirk West Hamilton North and Bellshill Hamilton South Kilmarnock and Loudoun Motherwell and Wishaw

Glasgow	Glasgow Anniesland Glasgow Baillieston Glasgow Cathcart Glasgow Govan Glasgow Kelvin Glasgow Maryhill Glasgow Pollok Glasgow Rutherglen Glasgow Shettleston Glasgow Springburn

Highlands and Islands	Argyll and Bute Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber Moray Orkney Ross, Skye and Inverness West Shetland Western Isles

Lothians	Edinburgh Central Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Edinburgh North and Leith Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh South Edinburgh West Linlithgow Livingston Midlothian

Mid Scotland and Fife	Central Fife Dunfermline East Dunfermline West Kirkcaldy North East Fife North Tayside Ochil Perth Stirling

North East Scotland	Aberdeen Central Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Angus Banff and Buchan Dundee East Dundee West Gordon West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

South of Scotland	Ayr Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Clydesdale Cunninghame South Dumfries East Lothian Galloway and Upper Nithsdale Roxburgh and Berwickshire Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale

West of Scotland	Clydebank and Milngavie Cunninghame North Dumbarton Eastwood Greenock and Inverclyde Paisley North Paisley South Strathkelvin and Bearsden West Renfrewshire

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