Midlothian North and Musselburgh
Region or constituency of the Scottish Parliament
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Midlothian North and Musselburgh was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament covering parts of the council areas of Midlothian and East Lothian. Under the additional-member system used for elections to the Scottish Parliament, the seat elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election, and was also one of nine constituencies in the Lothian electoral region, which elected seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole. It was created ahead of the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, and covered areas that were formerly part of the constituencies of Midlothian and Edinburgh East & Musselburgh, both of which were abolished.[2]
.svg)
| Midlothian North and Musselburgh | |
|---|---|
| Former county constituency for the Scottish Parliament | |
| |
.svg) Midlothian North and Musselburgh shown within the Lothian electoral region and the region shown within Scotland | |
| Population | 85,799 (2019)[1] |
| Former constituency | |
| Created | 2011 |
| Abolished | 2026 |
| Council area | Midlothian East Lothian |
| Created from | East Lothian, Edinburgh East & Musselburgh, Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Midlothian |
| Replaced by | Midlothian North, Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent |
As a result of the second periodic review of Scottish Parliament boundaries in 2025, the constituency was abolished ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. Most of the area became part of the new constituency of Midlothian North, whilst the Musselburgh area was added to the new constituency of Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent.[3][4]
Midlothian North and Musselburgh was held by Colin Beattie of the Scottish National Party for the entire duration of its existence (2011-2026).
Electoral region
During the period Midlothian North and Musselburgh was in existence, the other eight constituencies of the Lothian region were: Almond Valley, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Eastern, Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh Southern, Edinburgh Western and Linlithgow. During this period, the region included 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.
The Lothian electoral region was also abolished as a result of second periodic review, with the area covered now mostly forming parts of the new Edinburgh and Lothians East and Central Scotland and Lothians West regions, with a small portion also being transferred to the South Scotland region.[5]
Constituency boundaries and council area
During the period Midlothian North and Musselburgh was in existence, Midlothian was represented by two constituencies in the Scottish Parliament, these being Midlothian North and Musselburgh and Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, the latter was part of the South Scotland region. Part of the constituency was within the East Lothian council area, the remainder of which was represented by the East Lothian constituency (also within the South Scotland region).
Midlothian North and Musselburgh was created aheaed of the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, combining areas that were formerly in the constituencies of Edinburgh East & Musselburgh, Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, and Midlothian.[6] Created as a result of the first periodic review of Scottish Parliament boundaries, the constituency was defined using the following electoral wards:[7]
- Midlothian Council wards:
- Bonnyrigg (entire ward)
- Dalkeith (entire ward)
- Midlothian East (entire ward)
- Midlothian West (shared with the Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale constituency)
- East Lothian Council wards:
- Musselburgh (entire ward)
- Tranent/Wallyford/Macmerry (shared with the East Lothian constituency)
Member of the Scottish Parliament
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Colin Beattie | SNP | |
Election results
2020s
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| SNP | Colin Beattie[a] | 21,165 | 49.7 |  0.8 |
17,620 | 41.2 | 0.4 | |
| Labour | Stephen Curran | 13,259 | 31.1 | 2.5 |
10,212 | 23.9 |  3.3 | |
| Conservative | Iain Whyte | 6,529 | 15.3 | 2.8 |
7,723 | 18.1 | 0.4 | |
| Green | 3,800 | 8.9 | 1.6 | |||||
| Liberal Democrats | Charles Dundas | 1,630 | 3.8 | 0.7 |
1,372 | 3.2 | 0.5 | |
| Alba | 645 | 1.5 | New | |||||
| Animal Welfare | 285 | 0.7 | New | |||||
| All for Unity | 278 | 0.6 | New | |||||
| Scottish Family | 216 | 0.5 | New | |||||
| Women's Equality | 116 | 0.3 | 0.4 | |||||
| Abolish the Scottish Parliament | 101 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Reform | 81 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Scottish Libertarian | 79 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Communist | 69 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Freedom Alliance (UK) | 69 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| UKIP | 57 | 0.1 | 2.0 | |||||
| Independent | Ashley Graczyk | 34 | 0.1 | New | ||||
| SDP | 19 | 0.0 | New | |||||
| Renew | 7 | 0.0 | New | |||||
| Majority | 7,906 | 18.6 | 1.7 |
|||||
| Valid votes | 42,583 | 42,783 | ||||||
| Invalid votes | 159 | 92 | ||||||
| Turnout | 42,742 | 61.7 | 6.7 |
42,875 | 61.9 | 6.9 | ||
| SNP hold | Swing | |||||||
2010s
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Region | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| SNP | Colin Beattie[a] | 16,948 | 48.9 | 1.7 |
14,208 | 40.8 | 2.2 | |
| Labour | Bernard Harkins | 9,913 | 28.6 | 8.6 |
9,455 | 27.2 | 4.0 | |
| Conservative | Jeremy Balfour[b] | 6,267 | 18.1 | 9.6 |
6,425 | 18.5 | 10.9 | |
| Green | 2,530 | 7.3 | 3.6 | |||||
| Liberal Democrats | Jacquie Bell | 1,557 | 4.5 | 0.3 |
951 | 2.7 | 0.1 | |
| UKIP | 718 | 2.1 | 1.5 | |||||
| Women's Equality | 250 | 0.7 | New | |||||
| Solidarity | 171 | 0.5 | 0.4 | |||||
| RISE | 104 | 0.3 | New | |||||
| Majority | 7,035 | 20.3 | 10.3 |
|||||
| Valid votes | 34,685 | 34,812 | ||||||
| Invalid votes | 140 | 53 | ||||||
| Turnout | 34,825 | 55.0 | 3.7 |
34,865 | 55.0 | 3.7 | ||
| SNP hold | Swing | |||||||
Notes
| ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Region | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| SNP | Colin Beattie | 14,079 | 47.2 | N/A | 12,821 | 43.0 | N/A | |
| Labour | Bernard Harkins | 11,083 | 37.2 | N/A | 9,297 | 31.2 | N/A | |
| Conservative | Scott Douglas | 2,541 | 8.5 | N/A | 2,274 | 7.6 | N/A | |
| Independent | Margo MacDonald[a] | 1,963 | 6.6 | N/A | ||||
| Green | 1,105 | 3.7 | N/A | |||||
| Liberal Democrats | Ian Younger | 1,254 | 4.2 | N/A | 844 | 2.8 | N/A | |
| Independent | Alan Hay | 861 | 2.9 | N/A | ||||
| All-Scotland Pensioners Party | 400 | 1.3 | N/A | |||||
| Socialist Labour | 297 | 1.0 | N/A | |||||
| BNP | 238 | 0.8 | N/A | |||||
| UKIP | 190 | 0.6 | N/A | |||||
| Scottish Christian | 104 | 0.3 | N/A | |||||
| Scottish Socialist | 85 | 0.3 | N/A | |||||
| CPA | 77 | 0.3 | N/A | |||||
| Liberal | 61 | 0.2 | N/A | |||||
| Solidarity | 34 | 0.1 | N/A | |||||
| Independent | Ken O'Neil | 17 | 0.1 | N/A | ||||
| Independent | David Hogg | 15 | 0.0 | N/A | ||||
| Independent | Mev Brown | 10 | 0.0 | N/A | ||||
| Majority | 2,996 | 10.0 | N/A | |||||
| Valid votes | 29,818 | 29,832 | ||||||
| Invalid votes | 98 | 109 | ||||||
| Turnout | 29,916 | 51.3 | N/A | 29,941 | 51.3 | N/A | ||
| SNP win (new seat) | ||||||||
Notes
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