Edinburgh North and Leith (UK Parliament constituency)
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| Edinburgh North and Leith Burgh constituency |
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| Edinburgh North and Leith shown within Scotland | |
| Created: | 1997 |
| MP: | Mark Lazarowicz |
| Party: | Labour Co-operative |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| Council areas: | City of Edinburgh |
| EP constituency: | Scotland |
Edinburgh North and Leith is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (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 retains the older boundaries.
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[edit] 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 the 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. As of 29 February 2008, these wards consist of 5 Liberal Democrat councillors, 4 SNP, 4 Labour, 2 Conservatives and 1 Green.
The constituency is urban, and covers several northern communities of the city, as well as most of the former burgh of Leith, which merged with Edinburgh in 1920. 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, 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.
The constituency is expected to experience rapid population growth and demographic change over the next six years, mostly at the Waterfront. Large-scale housing developments are planned both at Newhaven (Western Harbour) and Granton, giving rise to around 35,000 additional residents, often compared to adding the equivalent of a town the size of Falkirk or Dunfermline. This would inevitably lead to further constituency changes in future.
[edit] Member of Parliament
| Year | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Malcolm Chisholm | Labour | |
| 2001 | Mark Lazarowicz | Labour Co-operative | |
[edit] Election results
| Confirmed candidates for the next UK general election[2] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Scottish National Party | Calum Cashley | ||||
| Liberal Democrat | Kevin Lang | ||||
| Labour | Mark Lazarowicz | ||||
| Conservative | Iain McGill | ||||
| General Election 2005: Edinburgh North & Leith | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour Co-op | Mark Lazarowicz | 14,597 | 34.2% | -7.7 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Mike Crockart | 12,444 | 29.2% | +8.9 | |
| Conservative | Iain Whyte | 7,969 | 18.7% | 0.0 | |
| Scottish National Party | Davie Hutchison | 4,344 | 10.2% | -4.2 | |
| Scottish Green | Mark Sydenham | 2,482 | 5.8% | +5.8 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Bill Scott | 804 | 1.9% | -1.7 | |
| Majority | 2,153 | 5.0% | |||
| Turnout | 42,640 | 62.7 | +8.8 | ||
| Labour Co-op hold | Swing | -8.3 | |||
| General Election 2001: Edinburgh North & 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 | |
| Scottish National Party | Kaukab Stewart | 5,290 | 15.9 | -4.2 | |
| Conservative | Iain Mitchell | 4,626 | 13.9 | -3.9 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Catriona Grant | 1,334 | 4.0 | N/A | |
| 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 | ||||
| General Election 1997: Edinburgh North & Leith | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour Co-op | Malcolm Chisholm | 19,209 | 46.9 | N/A | |
| Scottish National Party | 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 Party | 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 | N/A | |||
| Turnout | 66.5 | N/A | |||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Fifth Periodical Review, Boundary Commission for Scotland
- ^ Edinburgh North and Leith, UKPollingReport
