Edinburgh South (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Edinburgh South Burgh constituency |
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| Edinburgh South shown within Scotland | |
| Created: | 1885 |
| MP: | Nigel Griffiths |
| Party: | Labour |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| Council areas: | City of Edinburgh |
| EP constituency: | Scotland |
Edinburgh South is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, first used in the general election of 1885. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Prior to the 2005 general election the constituency had the same boundaries as the Scottish Parliament constituency with the same name. See Edinburgh South (Scottish Parliament constituency).
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[edit] Boundaries
When created in 1885, the Westminster constituency was partly a replacement for the Edinburgh constituency.
In 1918 the constituency consisted of the "Merchiston, Morningside, and Newington Municipal Wards of Edinburgh."
In 2005, prior to the general election, Edinburgh South was one of six covering the City of Edinburgh council area. Five were entirely within the city council area. One, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, straddled the boundary with the East Lothian council area, to take in Musselburgh.
For the 2005 election, the constituency was enlarged to enclude areas from the former Edinburgh Pentlands constituency, and became one of five constituencies covering the city area, all entirely within that area.[1]
The constituency covers a southern portion of the city area, and is predominantly suburban. In terms of wards used in elections to the City of Edinburgh Council 1999 to 2007, it includes the wards of Alnwickhill, Fairmilehead, Gilmerton, Kaimes, Marchmont, Merchiston, Moredun, Newington, North Morningside and the Grange, Sciennes, and South Morningside. These wards are due to be replaced with new wards in 2007, as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004.
[edit] Next election
The constituency is recognised as the top target seat for the Liberal Democrats against the Labour Party. The Liberal Democrats' candidate was just 400 votes behind the successful Labour candidate, MP Nigel Griffiths, in the last general election.
Nigel Griffiths is expected to stand again as the Labour candidate in the next general election. The Liberal Democrats have selected City of Edinburgh councillor Fred Mackintosh as their candidate.
[edit] Member of Parliament
- 1885 - 1886: George Harrison
- 1886 - 1892: Hugh Culling Eardley Childers, Liberal
- 1892 - 1895: Herbert Woodfield Paul
- 1895 - 1899: Robert Cox
- 1899 - 1900: Arthur Dewar Liberal (elected in a by-election)
- 1900 - 1906: Andrew Noel Agnew
- 1906 - 1910: Arthur Dewar Liberal
- 1910 - 1917: Charles Henry Lyell (elected at a by-election in April 1910)
- 1917 - 1918: James Edward Parrott (elected in the a by-election), Liberal
- 1918 - 1922: Charles David Murray, Unionist
- 1922 - 1945: Samuel Chapman, Unionist (re-elected in the 1923, 1924, 1929, 1931 and 1935 general elections)
- 1945 - 1957: William Darling, Unionist (re-elected in the 1951 and 1955 general elections)
- 1957 - 1979: Michael Clark Hutchison, Unionist/Conservative (elected in a by-election, re-elected in the 1959, 1964, 1966, 1970, February 1974 and October 1974 general elections)
- 1979 - 1987: Michael Ancram, Conservative (re-elected in the 1983 general election)
- 1987 - present: Nigel Griffiths, Labour (re-elected in the 1992, 1997, 2001 and 2005 general elections)
[edit] Election results
| General Election 2005: Edinburgh South | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Nigel Griffiths | 14,188 | 33.2% | -6.1 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Marilyne MacLaren | 13,783 | 32.3% | +7.0 | |
| Conservative | Gavin Brown | 10,291 | 24.1% | +1.4 | |
| Scottish National Party | Graham Sutherland | 2,635 | 6.2% | -3.1 | |
| Scottish Green | Steve Burgess | 1,387 | 3.2% | +3.2 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Morag Robertson | 414 | 1.0% | -1.2 | |
| Majority | 405 | 0.9% | |||
| Turnout | 42,693 | 70.0 | +9.8 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | -6.5 | |||
| General Election 2001: Edinburgh South | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Nigel Griffiths | 15,671 | 42.2 | -4.7 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Marilyne MacLaren | 10,172 | 27.4 | +9.7 | |
| Conservative | Gordon Buchan | 6,172 | 16.6 | -4.7 | |
| Scottish National Party | Heather Williams | 3,683 | 9.9 | -3.0 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Colin Fox | 933 | 2.5 | N/A | |
| Legalise Cannabis | Margaret Hendry | 535 | 1.4 | N/A | |
| Majority | 5,499 | 14.8 | |||
| Turnout | 37,166 | 57.7 | -14.1 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| General Election 1992: Edinburgh South | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Nigel Griffiths | 18,485 | |||
| Conservative | Struan Stevenson | 14,309 | |||
| Liberal Democrats | B. McCreadie | 5,961 | |||
| Scottish National Party | R. Knox | 5,727 | |||
| Natural Law | G. Manclark | 108 | |||
| Majority | 4,176 | ||||
| Turnout | 72.67 | ||||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| General Election 1935: Edinburgh South | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Sir Samuel Chapman | 27,254 | |||
| Labour | Mrs B. Woodburn | 5,365 | |||
| General Election 1931: Edinburgh South | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Sir Samuel Chapman | unopposed | |||
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| General Election 1906: Edinburgh South | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal | Arthur Dewar KC | 8,945 | 59.9 | ||
| Conservative | William C. Smith KC | 5,985 | 40.1 | ||
