Edinburgh Western
Region or constituency of the Scottish Parliament
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Edinburgh Western (Gaelic: Dùn Èideann an Iar) is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the City of Edinburgh council area. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the Lothian electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
| Edinburgh Western | |
|---|---|
| Former burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament | |
| |
.svg) Edinburgh Western shown within the Lothian electoral region and the region shown within Scotland | |
| Population | 85,095 (2019)[1] |
| Former constituency | |
| Created | 2011 |
| Abolished | 2026 |
| Party | Scottish Liberal Democrats |
| MSP | Alex Cole-Hamilton |
| Council area | City of Edinburgh |
| Created from | Edinburgh West |
| Replaced by | Edinburgh North Western, Edinburgh Northern |
The constituency was created in 2011, when it replaced the former Edinburgh West Scottish Parliament constituency.
The seat has been held by Alex Cole-Hamilton of the Scottish Liberal Democrats since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.
As a result of the second periodic review of Scottish Parliament boundaries in 2025, Edinburgh Western will be abolished. The bulk of the seat will form the new constituency of Edinburgh North Western from the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. A portion also be transferred to the new Edinburgh Northern constituency.[2][3]
Electoral region
The other eight constituencies of the Lothian region are: Almond Valley, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Eastern, Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh Southern, 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 council area 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 West 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.[4]
For the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, Edinburgh West was redrawn and renamed "Edinburgh Western". The electoral wards used in this seat are:[5]
- In full: Almond, Drum Brae/Gyle
- In part: Forth, Inverleith (shared with Edinburgh Northern and Leith), Corstorphine/Murrayfield (shared with Edinburgh Central)
Members of the Scottish Parliament
As Edinburgh Western
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Colin Keir | SNP | |
| 2016 | Alex Cole-Hamilton | Liberal Democrats | |
Election results
2020s
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Alex Cole-Hamilton[a] | 25,578 | 54.7 |  12.8 |
11,923 | 25.5 | 4.6 | |
| SNP | Sarah Masson | 15,693 | 33.5 |  0.9 |
14,409 | 30.7 | 1.4 | |
| Conservative | Sue Webber | 2,798 | 6.0 | 8.3 |
9,350 | 20.0 | 5.6 | |
| Labour | Margaret Graham | 2,515 | 5.4 | 4.0 |
5,140 | 11.0 | 0.6 | |
| Green | 4,101 | 8.7 | 1.8 | |||||
| Alba | 614 | 1.3 | New | |||||
| All for Unity | 240 | 0.5 | New | |||||
| Animal Welfare | 237 | 0.5 | New | |||||
| Scottish Family | 227 | 0.5 | New | |||||
| Scottish Libertarian | Daniel Fraser | 201 | 0.4 | New | 107 | 0.2 | New | |
| Abolish the Scottish Parliament | 94 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Freedom Alliance (UK) | 90 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Women's Equality | 86 | 0.2 | 0.6 | |||||
| Reform UK | 64 | 0.1 | New | |||||
| Communist | 44 | 0.1 | New | |||||
| UKIP | 42 | 0.1 | 1.4 | |||||
| Independent | Ashley Graczyk | 27 | 0.1 | New | ||||
| SDP | 25 | 0.1 | New | |||||
| Renew | 9 | 0.0 | New | |||||
| Majority | 9,885 | 21.2 | 13.7 |
|||||
| Valid Votes | 46,785 | 46,829 | ||||||
| Invalid Votes | 116 | 67 | ||||||
| Turnout | 46,901 | 71.5 | 6.8 |
46,895 | 71.5 | 6.8 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | 6.9 |
||||||
In 2021, Edinburgh Western set the record for the most votes ever cast for a single candidate in a Scottish Parliament election.[9]
2010s
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Region | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Alex Cole-Hamilton | 16,645 | 41.9 | 14.1 |
8,321 | 20.9 | 9.0 | |
| SNP | Toni Giugliano | 13,685 | 34.4 | 1.4 |
12,835 | 32.2 | 5.9 | |
| Conservative | Sandy Batho | 5,686 | 14.3 | 0.8 |
10,199 | 25.6 | 10.8 | |
| Labour | Cat Headley | 3,750 | 9.4 | 12.0 |
4,624 | 11.6 | 5.9 | |
| Green | 2,760 | 6.9 | 1.8 | |||||
| UKIP | 594 | 1.5 | 0.7 | |||||
| Women's Equality | 309 | 0.8 | New | |||||
| RISE | 115 | 0.3 | New | |||||
| Solidarity | 101 | 0.3 | 0.2 | |||||
| Majority | 2,960 | 7.5 | N/A | |||||
| Valid Votes | 39,766 | 39,858 | ||||||
| Invalid Votes | 124 | 55 | ||||||
| Turnout | 39,890 | 64.7 | 5.0 |
39,913 | 64.7 | 5.1 | ||
| Liberal Democrats gain from SNP | Swing | |||||||
Notes | ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Region | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| SNP | Colin Keir | 11,965 | 35.8 | N/A | 12,747 | 38.1 | N/A | |
| Liberal Democrats | Margaret Smith[a] | 9,276 | 27.7 | N/A | 3,988 | 11.9 | N/A | |
| Labour | Lesley Hinds | 7,164 | 21.4 | N/A | 5,870 | 17.5 | N/A | |
| Conservative | Gordon Lindhurst | 5,047 | 15.1 | N/A | 4,952 | 14.8 | N/A | |
| Independent | Margo MacDonald[a] | 2,707 | 8.1 | N/A | ||||
| Green | 1,728 | 5.2 | N/A | |||||
| All-Scotland Pensioners Party | 424 | 1.3 | N/A | |||||
| UKIP | 268 | 0.8 | N/A | |||||
| BNP | 200 | 0.6 | N/A | |||||
| Liberal | 156 | 0.5 | N/A | |||||
| Socialist Labour | 131 | 0.4 | N/A | |||||
| Scottish Christian | 92 | 0.3 | N/A | |||||
| Scottish Socialist | 92 | 0.3 | N/A | |||||
| CPA | 66 | 0.2 | N/A | |||||
| Solidarity | 28 | 0.1 | N/A | |||||
| Independent | Ken O'Neil | 12 | 0.0 | N/A | ||||
| Independent | Mev Brown | 6 | 0.0 | N/A | ||||
| Independent | David Hogg | 6 | 0.0 | N/A | ||||
| Majority | 2,689 | 7.9 | N/A | |||||
| Valid Votes | 33,452 | 33,473 | ||||||
| Invalid Votes | 152 | 99 | ||||||
| Turnout | 33,604 | 59.6 | N/A | 33,572 | 59.6 | N/A | ||
| SNP win (new seat) | ||||||||
Notes
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