Lothian
electoral region
for the Scottish Parliament
Lothian shown within Scotland
Council areasCity of Edinburgh
East Lothian (part)
Midlothian (part)
West Lothian
Population786,439 (2019)[1]
Current electoral region
Created2011
MSPsScottish National Party 7
Conservative 3
Labour 3
Scottish Green 2
Liberal Democrats 1
ConstituenciesAlmond Valley
Edinburgh Central
Edinburgh Eastern
Edinburgh Northern and Leith
Edinburgh Pentlands
Edinburgh Southern
Edinburgh Western
Linlithgow
Midlothian North and Musselburgh

Lothian is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Thus it elects a total of 16 MSPs. The region is located in the eastern area of the Central Belt of the Scottish Lowlands and is anchored by capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh.

The Lothian region was created as a result of the First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries and largely replaced the Lothians region.[2]

Constituencies and local government areas

Map
Map of boundaries from 2011

As a result of the First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries the boundaries for the region and constituencies were redrawn for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.

Constituency
  1. Almond Valley
  2. Edinburgh Central
  3. Edinburgh Eastern
  4. Edinburgh Northern and Leith
  5. Edinburgh Pentlands
  6. Edinburgh Southern
  7. Edinburgh Western
  8. Linlithgow
  9. Midlothian North and Musselburgh

Members of the Scottish Parliament

Constituency MSPs

as Lothians
Term Election Midlothian Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Edinburgh Central Edinburgh North and Leith Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh South Edinburgh West Linlithgow Livingston
1st 1999 Rhona Brankin
(Labour) 		Susan Deacon
(Labour) 		Sarah Boyack
(Labour) 		Malcolm Chisholm
(Labour) 		Iain Gray
(Labour) 		Angus MacKay
(Labour) 		Margaret Smith
(LD) 		Mary Mulligan
(Labour) 		Bristow Muldoon
(Labour)
2nd 2003 David McLetchie
(Conservative) 		Mike Pringle
(LD)
3rd 2007 Kenny MacAskill
(SNP) 		Angela Constance
(SNP)
as Lothian
Term Election Midlothian North and Musselburgh Edinburgh Eastern Edinburgh Central Edinburgh Northern and Leith Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh Southern Edinburgh Western Linlithgow Almond Valley
4th 2011 Colin Beattie
(SNP) 		Kenny MacAskill
(SNP) 		Marco Biagi
(SNP) 		Malcolm Chisholm
(Labour) 		Gordon MacDonald
(SNP) 		Jim Eadie
(SNP) 		Colin Keir
(SNP) 		Fiona Hyslop
(SNP) 		Angela Constance
(SNP)
5th 2016 Ash Denham
(SNP) 		Ruth Davidson
(Conservative) 		Ben Macpherson
(SNP) 		Daniel Johnson
(Labour) 		Alex Cole-Hamilton
(LD)
6th 2021 Angus Robertson
(SNP)

Regional list MSPs

Elections take place on a whole-region basis: candidates shown in the same column have no particular relationship to each other.

Parliament MSP MSP MSP MSP MSP MSP MSP
as Lothians
1st
(1999–2003) 		Robin Harper
(Green) 		Margo MacDonald
(SNP) 		Fiona Hyslop
(SNP) 		Kenny MacAskill
(SNP) 		David Steel
(Lib Dem) 		James Douglas-Hamilton
(Conservative) 		David McLetchie
(Conservative)
Margo MacDonald
(Ind)
2nd
(2003–07) 		Margo MacDonald
(Ind) 		Colin Fox
(Socialist) 		Mark Ballard
(Green)
3rd
(2007–11) 		Ian McKee
(SNP) 		Stefan Tymkewycz
(SNP) 		Gavin Brown
(Conservative) 		George Foulkes
(Labour)
Shirley-Anne Somerville
(SNP)
as Lothian
4th
(2011–16) 		Alison Johnstone
(Green) 		Margo MacDonald
(Ind)[a] 		Kezia Dugdale
(Labour)[b] 		Neil Findlay
(Labour) 		Sarah Boyack
(Labour) 		Gavin Brown
(Conservative) 		David McLetchie
(Conservative)[c]
Vacant (April 2014–May 2016) Cameron Buchanan
(Conservative)[c]
5th
(2016–21) 		Andy Wightman
(Green)[d] 		Gordon Lindhurst
(Conservative) 		Miles Briggs
(Conservative) 		Jeremy Balfour
(Conservative)
Andy Wightman
(Ind)[d] 		Sarah Boyack
(Labour)[b]
6th
(2021–) 		Lorna Slater
(Green) 		Foysol Choudhury
(Labour) 		Sue Webber
(Conservative)

Election results

2021 Scottish Parliament election

Constituency results

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Lothian
Constituency Elected member Result
Almond Valley Angela Constance SNP hold
Edinburgh Central Angus Robertson SNP gain from Conservative
Edinburgh Eastern Ash Denham SNP hold
Edinburgh Northern and Leith Ben Macpherson SNP hold
Edinburgh Pentlands Gordon MacDonald SNP hold
Edinburgh Southern Daniel Johnson Labour hold
Edinburgh Western Alex Cole-Hamilton Liberal Democrats hold
Linlithgow Fiona Hyslop SNP hold
Midlothian North and Musselburgh Colin Beattie SNP hold

Additional member results

[4]
2021 Scottish Parliament election: Lothian[3]
List Candidates Votes % ±
SNP Graham Campbell, Angus Robertson, Fiona Hyslop, Ben Macpherson, Catriona MacDonald, Sarah Masson, Greg McCarra, Alison Dickie, Alex Orr, Douglas Thomson, Andrew Ewen, Rob Connell 141,478 35.9 Decrease0.3
Conservative Miles Briggs, Sue Webber, Jeremy Balfour, Rebecca Fraser, Malcolm Offord, Scott Douglas, Gordon Lindhurst, Marie-Clair Munro, Graham Hutchison, Iain Whyte, Callum Laidlaw, Charles Kennedy, Damian Timson 78,595 19.9 Decrease3.0
Labour Daniel Johnson, Sarah Boyack, Foysol Choudhury, Maddy Kirkman, Nick Ward, Kirsteen Sullivan, Frederick Hessler, Stephen Curran 76,689 19.4 Decrease1.4
Scottish Green Alison Johnstone, Lorna Slater, Kate Nevens, Chas Booth, Steve Burgess, Alys Mumford, Emily Frood, Ben Parker, Elaine Taylor, Bill Wilson, Evelyn Weston, Alex Staniforth 49,984 12.7 Increase2.1
Liberal Democrats Alex Cole-Hamilton, Fred Mackintosh, Jill Reilly, Rebecca Bell, Sally Pattie, Fraser Graham, Caron Lindsay, Bruce Wilson, Charles Dundas 28,433 7.2 Increase1.6
Alba Kenny MacAskill, Alex Arthur, Christina Hendry, Irshad Ahmed 6,141 1.6 Increase1.6
All for Unity Charlotte Morley, Parvinder Singh, Alan Hogg, Andy Macaulay, David Hamilton, Mike Knox 2,423 0.6 Increase0.6
Animal Welfare Vivienne Moir, Gavin Ridley 2,392 0.6 Increase0.6
Scottish Family Party Richard Lucas, Philip Holden, Norman Colville, Gareth Kirk, Amy Ireland 2,041 0.5 Increase0.5
Women's Equality Emma Watt, David Renton, Lucy Hammond 1,124 0.3 Decrease0.9
Freedom Alliance Jon Pullman, Cara Wase, Patricia McCann 922 0.2 Increase0.2
Abolish the Scottish Parliament John Leckie, David Nichol 828 0.2 Increase0.2
Reform UK Derek Winton, Mev Brown, Iain Morse, Lesley MacDonald 810 0.2 Increase0.2
Libertarian Tam Laird, Cameron Paterson 689 0.2 Increase0.2
Communist Matthew Waddell 598 0.2 Increase0.2
Independent Ashley Graczyk 430 0.1 Increase0.1
UKIP Donald Mackay, John Mumford, Steve Hollis, Kenneth Lowry 420 0.1 Decrease1.7
SDP Alasdair Young, Neil Manson, Lawrence Edwards 227 0.1 Increase0.1
Renew Heather Astbury, Anna Freemantle-Zee 102 0.0 Increase0.0

2016 Scottish Parliament election

In the 2016 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

Constituency results

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Lothian
Constituency Elected member Result
Almond Valley Angela Constance SNP hold
Edinburgh Central Ruth Davidson Conservative gain from SNP
Edinburgh Eastern Ash Denham SNP hold
Edinburgh Northern and Leith Ben Macpherson SNP gain from Labour
Edinburgh Pentlands Gordon MacDonald SNP hold
Edinburgh Southern Daniel Johnson Labour gain from SNP
Edinburgh Western Alex Cole-Hamilton Liberal Democrats gain from SNP
Linlithgow Fiona Hyslop SNP hold
Midlothian North and Musselburgh Colin Beattie SNP hold

Additional member results

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Lothians
Party Elected candidates Seats +/− Votes % +/−%
SNP 0 ±0 118,546 36.2% -2.9%
Conservative Miles Briggs
Gordon Lindhurst
Jeremy Balfour 		3 +1 74,972 22.9% +11.3%
Labour Kezia Dugdale
Neil Findlay 		2 -1 67,991 20.8% -4.1%
Scottish Green Alison Johnstone
Andy Wightman 		2 +1 34,551 10.6% +3.0%
Liberal Democrats 0 ±0 18,479 5.6% +0.1%
UKIP 0 ±0 5,802 1.8% +1.2%
Women's Equality 0 ±0 3,877 1.2% +1.2%
RISE 0 ±0 1,641 0.5% +0.5%
Solidarity 0 ±0 1,319 0.4% +0.3%

2011 Scottish Parliament election

In the 2011 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

Constituency results

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Lothian
Constituency Elected member Result
Almond Valley Angela Constance SNP hold
Edinburgh Central Marco Biagi SNP gain from Labour
Edinburgh Eastern Kenny MacAskill SNP gain from Labour
Edinburgh Northern and Leith Malcolm Chisholm Labour hold
Edinburgh Pentlands Gordon MacDonald SNP gain from Conservative
Edinburgh Southern Jim Eadie SNP gain from Liberal Democrats
Edinburgh Western Colin Keir SNP gain from Liberal Democrats
Linlithgow Fiona Hyslop SNP gain from Labour
Midlothian North and Musselburgh Colin Beattie SNP gain from Labour

Additional member results

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Lothians
Party Elected candidates Seats +/− Votes % +/−%
SNP 0 -3 110,953 39.2 +12.7
Labour Sarah Boyack
Kezia Dugdale
Neil Findlay 		3 +2 70,544 24.9 -1.3
Conservative David McLetchie
Gavin Brown 		2 +1 33,019 11.7 -1.5
Scottish Green Alison Johnstone 1 ±0 21,505 7.6 +0.5
Independent Margo MacDonald 1 ±0 18,732 6.6 ±0
Liberal Democrats 0 15,588 5.5 -7.3
Scottish Senior Citizens 0 ±0 3,218 1.1 -0.3
BNP 0 ±0 1,978 0.7 -0.2
UKIP 0 ±0 1,822 0.6 +0.4
Socialist Labour 0 ±0 1,681 0.6 -0.2
Scottish Socialist 0 ±0 1,183 0.4 -0.3
Scottish Christian 0 ±0 914 0.3 -0.4
Liberal 0 ±0 697 0.2 ±0
CPA 0 ±0 553 0.2 -0.1
Solidarity 0 ±0 327 0.1 -0.9
Independent 0 ±0 294 0.1 N/A
Independent 0 ±0 134 0.0 N/A
Independent 0 ±0 61 0.0 N/A

Footnotes

  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". Boundary Commission for Scotland. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  3. ^ Lothian [region], BBC News; retrieved 8 May 2021
  4. ^ "Statement of Persons and Parties Nominated and Notice of Poll". City of Edinburgh Council. 6 May 2021.
Preceded byWest Scotland Constituency or Region represented by the Presiding Officer 2021–present Incumbent
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