Edinburgh Southern
Burgh constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh Southern shown within the Lothian electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population81,639 (2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created2011
PartyScottish Labour
MSPDaniel Johnson
Council areaCity of Edinburgh
Created fromEdinburgh South

Edinburgh Southern (Gaelic: Dùn Èideann a Deas) is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Edinburgh. 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.

The seat has been held by Daniel Johnson of Scottish Labour since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

Electoral region

See also: Lothian (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other eight constituencies of the Lothian region are: Almond Valley, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Eastern, Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, 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

Map
Map of boundaries from 2011

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 Southern constituency was created as a result of the First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries and largely replaced the Edinburgh South constituency.

For the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, Edinburgh South was redrawn and renamed "Edinburgh Southern". The electoral wards used in this seat are:[2]

Constituency profile and voting patterns

Edinburgh Southern is an extremely affluent suburban constituency wedged across the inner south of the City of Edinburgh.[3] The constituency is largely composed of leafy Victorian townhousing based around the suburbs of Newington, Morningside, Craiglockhart, Blackford and Merchiston, with some social housing in parts of Prestonfield and Liberton.

Edinburgh Southern has a colourful mix of political traditions, with the equivalent Edinburgh South constituency at Westminster being represented by the Conservatives until being won by Labour's Nigel Griffiths in 1987. It has since returned Labour MPs, becoming Labour's only Scottish constituency at Westminster in 2015 following a landslide election for the Scottish National Party, who took 56 of 59 Westminster constituencies in Scotland. At the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh South returned a Labour constituency MSP in 1999, voting Liberal Democrat in both 2003 and 2007 before being narrowly won by the SNP in 2011. In 2016, it became Labour's only constituency seat gain at the Scottish Parliament, despite the fact that the Conservative Party had the largest share of the vote on the regional list vote in the constituency.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election Member Party
2011 Jim Eadie SNP
2016 Daniel Johnson Labour

Election results

2020s

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Southern[4][5][6]
Party Candidate Constituency Regional
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
Labour Daniel Johnson[a] 20,760 45.9 Increase10.3 11,128 24.5 Increase2.6
SNP Catriona MacDonald 16,738 37.0 Increase4.4 11,053 24.3 Increase1.1
Conservative Miles Briggs[b] 5,258 11.6 Decrease14.5 9,357 20.6 Decrease8.6
Scottish Green 8,605 18.9 Increase2.1
Liberal Democrats Fred Mackintosh 2,189 4.8 Decrease1.0 3,373 7.4 Increase2.2
Alba 611 1.3 New
All for Unity 250 0.5 New
Women's Equality 194 0.4 Decrease1.4
Scottish Family Philip Holden 317 0.7 New 192 0.4 New
Animal Welfare 170 0.4 New
Communist 88 0.2 New
Reform UK 83 0.2 New
Freedom Alliance (UK) 81 0.2 New
Abolish the Scottish Parliament 77 0.2 New
Libertarian 59 0.1 New
Independent Ashley Graczyk 43 0.1 New
SDP 34 0.1 New
UKIP 21 0.0 Decrease1.0
Renew 8 0.0 New
Majority 4,022 8.9 Increase6.0
Valid Votes 45,262 45,427
Invalid Votes 204 55
Turnout 45,466 71.11 Increase6.5 45,482 71.13 Increase6.4
Labour hold Swing Increase3.0
Notes
  1. ^ Incumbent member for this constituency
  2. ^ Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Southern[7][8]
Party Candidate Constituency Region
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
Labour Daniel Johnson 13,597 35.5 Increase8.1 8,425 21.9 Increase3.0
SNP Jim Eadie[a] 12,474 32.6 Increase3.2 8,934 23.2 Decrease6.2
Conservative Miles Briggs[b] 9,972 26.1 Increase7.5 11,215 29.2 Increase12.5
Scottish Green 6,476 16.8 Increase2.0
Liberal Democrats Pramond Subbaraman 2,216 5.8 Decrease18.8 1,982 5.2 Decrease3.8
Women's Equality 689 1.8 New
UKIP 376 1.0 Increase0.5
RISE 264 0.7 New
Solidarity 98 0.3 Increase0.2
Majority 1,123 2.9 N/A
Valid Votes 38,259 38,459
Invalid Votes 233 64
Turnout 38,492 64.6 Increase2.6 38,523 64.7 Increase2.9
Labour gain from SNP Swing
Notes
  1. ^ Incumbent member for this constituency
  2. ^ Elected on the party list
2011 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Southern[9][10][11]
Party Candidate Constituency Region
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
SNP Jim Eadie 9,947 29.4 N/A 9,952 29.4 N/A
Labour Paul Godzik 9,254 27.4 N/A 6,411 18.9 N/A
Conservative Gavin Brown[a] 6,298 18.6 N/A 5,636 16.7 N/A
Scottish Green 4,993 14.8 N/A
Liberal Democrats Mike Pringle[a] 8,297 24.6 N/A 3,036 9.0 N/A
Independent Margo MacDonald[a] 2,472 7.3 N/A
All-Scotland Pensioners Party 242 0.7 N/A
Scottish Socialist 189 0.6 N/A
UKIP 185 0.5 N/A
Independent David Hogg 183 0.5 N/A
Socialist Labour 116 0.3 N/A
Liberal 109 0.3 N/A
BNP 100 0.3 N/A
Scottish Christian 86 0.3 N/A
CPA 62 0.2 N/A
Solidarity 29 0.1 N/A
Independent Ken O'Neil 20 0.0 N/A
Independent Mev Brown 13 0.0 N/A
Majority 693 2.0 N/A
Valid Votes 33,796 33,834
Invalid Votes 210 101
Turnout 34,006 62.0 N/A 33,935 61.8 N/A
SNP win (new seat)
Notes
  1. ^ a b c Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

References

  1. ^ Scottish Parliamentary Constituency (SPC) Population Estimates (2011 Data Zone based), National Records of Scotland; retrieved 6 May 2021 (accompanying summary notes)
  2. ^ "First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries Final Report" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. May 2010. p. 138. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020 - gov.scot". www.gov.scot.
  4. ^ "Constituencies A-Z: Edinburgh Southern". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Edinburgh Southern constituency results". City of Edinburgh Council. 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Edinburgh Southern regional results". City of Edinburgh Council. 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Edinburgh Southern MSP Constituency Results". City of Edinburgh Council. 5 May 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Lothian regional results". City of Edinburgh Council. 5 May 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Southern MSP Constituency Results 2011". City of Edinburgh Council. 5 May 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  10. ^ "2011 Results of Regional List". City of Edinburgh Council. 5 May 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  11. ^ "Results and turnout at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 3 June 2021.

External links

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