Edinburgh South (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Edinburgh South (Scottish Parliament constituency).

Edinburgh South
Burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Edinburgh South in Scotland.
Subdivisions of Scotland	City of Edinburgh
Current constituency
Created	1885
Member of parliament	Ian Murray (Labour)
Created from	Edinburgh
Overlaps
European Parliament 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. The current MP is the Labour Party's Ian Murray who was first elected at the 2010 general election with a majority of just 316 votes.^[1] He held his seat at the 2015 election with an increased majority, as the only Labour MP in Scotland.

Prior to the 2005 general election the constituency had the same boundaries as the Scottish Parliament constituency with the same name.

Boundaries

When created in 1885, the Westminster constituency was partly a replacement for the Edinburgh constituency. The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 provided that the constituency was to consist of the Municipal Wards of St. George, St. Cuthbert, and Newington.^[2]

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.^[3]

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, Little France, Newington, North Morningside and the Grange, Sciennes, and South Morningside.

These wards were replaced with new wards in 2007, as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. The constituency therefore contains almost no electoral division in its entirety. Those within its boundaries are Southside/Newington, Meadows/Morningside, a handful of streets from the extreme north-east of Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart ward, Colinton/Fairmilehead, and Liberton/Gilmerton.

Members of Parliament

	Member^[4]	Party
1885	George Harrison	Independent Liberal
1886 by-election	Hugh Childers	Liberal
1892	Herbert Paul	Liberal
1895	Robert Cox	Liberal
1899 by-election	Arthur Dewar	Liberal
1900	Sir Andrew Agnew, 9th Baronet	Liberal Unionist
1906	Arthur Dewar	Liberal
1910 by-election	Charles Henry Lyell	Liberal
1917 by-election	James Edward Parrott	Liberal
1918	Charles David Murray	Unionist
1922	Samuel Chapman	Unionist
1945	William Darling	Unionist
1957 by-election	Michael Clark Hutchison	Unionist
1965	Michael Clark Hutchison	Conservative
1979	Michael Ancram	Conservative
1987	Nigel Griffiths	Labour
2010	Ian Murray	Labour

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

2015 general election

At the 2015 general election, Edinburgh South became the only constituency in Scotland with a Labour MP.

General Election 2015: Edinburgh South^[5]^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Murray	19,293	39.1	+4.4
	SNP	Neil Hay	16,656	33.8	+26.1
	Conservative	Miles Briggs	8,626	17.5	-4.1
	Scottish Green	Phyl Meyer	2,090	4.2	+2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Pramod Subbaraman	1,823	3.7	-30.3
	UKIP	Paul Marshall	601	1.2	n/a
	Scottish Socialist	Colin Fox	197	0.4	n/a
Majority			2,637	5.4	+4.7
Turnout			49,286	74.9	+1.1
	Labour hold		Swing	-10.9

2010 general election

On 1 February 2010, Nigel Griffiths announced that he would not stand as the Labour candidate in the 2010 general election,^[8] and Labour then chose local councillor Ian Murray as their candidate. The Liberal Democrats selected former Edinburgh councillor Fred Mackintosh, the Scottish Conservatives selected veterinary surgeon Dr. Neil Hudson, the SNP selected financial consultant Sandy Howat, and the Green Party selected former research scientist Steve Burgess.

The constituency was a top target seat for both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives against the Labour Party — the Lib Dem candidate had been just 405 votes behind the successful Labour candidate in the previous general election. In early 2008 Charles Clarke included it in his "Doomsday Memo" of at-risk Labour constituencies, predicting that it could be taken by the Liberal Democrats with a swing of under 0.5%.^[9] In October 2009 a polling of marginal Scottish constituencies suggested that it could be taken by the Liberal Democrats.^[10] In the event, Labour managed to hold on to the seat, restricting the swing to just 0.1% to the Liberal Democrats.

General Election 2010: Edinburgh South^[11]^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Murray	15,215	34.7	+1.5
	Liberal Democrats	Fred Mackintosh	14,899	34.0	+1.7
	Conservative	Neil Hudson	9,452	21.6	-2.5
	SNP	Sandy Howat	3,354	7.7	+1.5
	Scottish Green	Steve Burgess	881	2.0	-1.2
Majority			316	0.7%
Turnout			43,801	73.8	+4.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.1

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Edinburgh South^[13]
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
	SNP	Graham Sutherland	2,635	6.2	-3.1
	Scottish Green	Steve Burgess	1,387	3.2	N/A
	Scottish Socialist	Morag Robertson	414	1.0	-1.2
Majority			405	0.9%	-13.9
Turnout			42,698	69.9	+9.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.5

General Election 2001: Edinburgh South^[14]
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
	SNP	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	-10.7
Turnout			37,166	57.7	-14.1
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.2

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Edinburgh South^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Nigel Griffiths	20,993	46.8	+5.3
	Conservative	Elizabeth Smith	9,541	21.3	-10.8
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Pringle	7,911	17.6	+4.2
	SNP	John Hargreaves	5,791	12.9	+0.1
	Referendum	Ian McLean	504	1.1
	Natural Law	Bradley Dunn	98	0.2	-0.0
Majority			11,452	25.5
Turnout			44,838	71.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.1

General Election 1992: Edinburgh South^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Nigel Griffiths	18,485	41.5
	Conservative	Struan Stevenson	14,309	32.1
	Liberal Democrats	Bob McCreadie	5,961	13.4
	SNP	Roger Knox	5,727	12.8
	Natural Law	George Manclark	108	0.2
Majority			4,176	9.4
Turnout			44,590	72.67
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Edinburgh South^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Nigel Griffiths	18,211	37.66
	Conservative	Michael Ancram	16,352	33.81
	Social Democratic	David Allan Graham	10,900	22.54
	SNP	Catherina McMillan Moore	2,455	5.08
	Green	Ruth Vera Clark	440	0.91
Majority			1,859	3.84
Turnout				77.67
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1983: Edinburgh South^[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Ancram	16,485	36.76
	Social Democratic	J. Godfrey	12,830	28.61
	Labour	R. McCreadie	12,824	28.60
	SNP	Neil MacCallum	2,256	5.03
	Ecology	L. Hendry	450	1.00
Majority			3,655	8.15
Turnout				71.73
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Ancram	17,986	39.74
	Labour	Gordon Brown	15,526	34.30
	Liberal	J.P.B. Lovell	7,400	16.35
	SNP	R. Shirley	3,800	8.40
	Ecology	S.M. Biggar	552	1.22
Majority			2,460	5.43
Turnout				77.30
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Clark Hutchison	14,962	35.92
	Labour	C. Haddow	11,736	28.18
	SNP	R. Shirley	9,034	21.69
	Liberal	N.L. Gordon	5,921	14.22
Majority			3,226	7.74
Turnout				74.18
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Clark Hutchison	18,784	41.74
	Labour	T.J. Davies	12,403	27.54
	Liberal	N. Gordon	8,073	17.93
	SNP	R. Shirley	5,770	12.81
Majority			6,381	14.17
Turnout				80.83
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1970: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Clark Hutchison	19,851	48.12
	Labour	John Henderson	15,071	36.53
	Liberal	Ronald H. Guild	3,469	8.41
	SNP	David J. Stevenson	2,861	6.94
Majority			4,780	11.59
Turnout				73.99
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Clark Hutchison	20,820	53.16
	Labour	James W. Kerr	15,487	39.54
	SNP	H. McLean Robertson	2,856	7.29
Majority			5,333	13.62
Turnout				77.63
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Michael Clark Hutchison	21,375	53.17
	Labour	James W. Kerr	13,555	33.72
	Liberal	Ronald H. Guild	5,272	13.11
Majority			7,820	19.45
Turnout				80.32
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Michael Clark Hutchison	22,799	57.59
	Labour	Alex D. Reid	11,285	28.51
	Liberal	William Douglas-Home	5,505	13.91
Majority			11,514	29.08
Turnout				81.18
	Unionist hold		Swing

By-election 1957: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Michael Clark Hutchison	14,421	45.58	-21.94
	Labour	James A. Forsyth	9,781	30.91	-1.57
	Liberal	William Douglas-Home	7,439	23.51	N/A
Majority			4,640
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir William Young Darling	24,836	67.52
	Labour	James A. Forsyth	11,949	32.48
Majority			12,887	35.03
Turnout				77.24
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir William Young Darling	25,545	72.58
	Labour	James A. Forsyth	10,030	27.42
Majority			16,515	45.15
Turnout				81.43
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir William Young Darling	23,081	65.01
	Labour	William Paisley Earsman	8,725	24.57
	Liberal	Lionel Henry Daiches	3,699	10.42	n/a
Majority			14,356	40.43
Turnout				82.14
	Unionist hold		Swing

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Darling	23,652	70.77
	Labour	W.P. Earsman	9,767	29.23
Majority			13,885	41.55
Turnout				66.50
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Edinburgh South^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Samuel Chapman	27,254	83.55
	Labour	Mrs B. Woodburn	5,365	16.45
Majority			21,889	67.11
Turnout				67.56
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1931: Edinburgh South^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Samuel Chapman	unopposed
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Edinburgh South^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Samuel Chapman	19,541	56.7	-7.7
	Liberal	Arthur Pillans Laurie	9,849	28.6	-7.0
	Labour	Arthur Woodburn	5,050	14.7	n/a
Majority			9,692	28.1	-0.7
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing	-0.4

General Election 1924: Edinburgh South^[22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Samuel Chapman	15,854	64.4
	Liberal	David Cleghorn Thomson	8,777	35.6
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Edinburgh South^[23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Samuel Chapman	12,504
	Liberal	W. Hope	10,194
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

1922 General Election: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir Samuel Chapman	14,843	67.7	+9.9
	National Liberal	Catherine Buchanan Alderton	7,408	33.3	-9.9
Majority			7,435	35.4	+19.8
Turnout			22,251
	Unionist hold		Swing	+9.9

By-election 9 April 1920: Edinburgh South^[24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Charles David Murray	11,176	57.8
	Liberal	D.T. Holmes	8,177	42.3
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Edinburgh South^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Maj. Charles David Murray CMG KC	14,854
	Liberal	David Caird	4,955

On 12 May 1917, Sir Edward Parrott was returned unopposed.^[26]

General Election December 1910: Edinburgh South^[27]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Maj the Hon Charles Henry Lyell KC	9,576
	Conservative	Charles David Murray	7,986

By-election 28 April 1910: Edinburgh South^[28]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Maj the Hon Charles Henry Lyell	8,694	57.7
	Liberal Unionist	Ralph George Campbell Glyn	6,367	42.3
Majority			2,327	15.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General Election January 1910: Edinburgh South^[29]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur Dewar KC	10,235
	Conservative	Harold B Cox	7,901

Elections in the 1900s

Arthur Dewar

General Election 1906: Edinburgh South^[30]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur Dewar	8,945	59.9
	Conservative	William C. Smith	5,985	40.1

General Election 1900: Edinburgh South^[31]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Sir Andrew Noel Agnew	5,766
	Liberal	Arthur Dewar	5,655

Elections in the 1890s

Edinburgh South by-election, 1899
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur Dewar	5,820
	Conservative	Andrew Gilbert Wauchope	4,989

General Election 1895: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Robert Cox	4,902
	Liberal	Herbert Woodfield Paul	4,795
Majority			97

General Election 1892: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Herbert Woodfield Paul	4,682
	Liberal Unionist	Lewis MacIver	4,251
Majority			431

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1886: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hugh Childers	3,778
	Liberal Unionist	Robert Purvis	2,191
Majority			1,587

At a by-election on 9 February 1886, Mr Childers having accepted office, he was returned unopposed.

By-election 29 January 1886: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hugh Childers	4,029
	Conservative	Hon Walter George Hepburne-Scott	1,730

General Election 1885: Edinburgh South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir George Harrison	4,273
	Liberal	Thomas Raleigh	2,874
Majority			1,399

Notes and references

↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/scotland/8667399.stm
↑ Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, Sixth Schedule
↑ Fifth Periodical Review, Boundary Commission for Scotland
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)
↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
↑ http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/download/1363/uk_parliamentary_election_results_2015
↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/S14000024
↑ Labour MP Nigel Griffiths to quit at election BBC News, 1 February 2010
↑ Battleground Seats Times Online
↑ THE 2009 POLITICSHOME ELECTORAL INDEX PoliticsHome
↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
↑ General Election 2010 - Edinburgh South BBC News
↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
↑ Oliver and Boyd's Edinburgh Almanack, 1930
↑ Oliver and Boyd's Edinburgh Almanack, 1927
↑ The Times, 8 December 1923
↑ The Times, 23 April 1920. By-election followed Charles Murray's appointment as Solicitor-General for Scotland
↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
↑ The Times, 14 May 1917
↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1916
↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1907
↑ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1901

Constituencies in Scotland by Holding Party (59)

Scottish National Party (54)	Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Airdrie and Shotts Angus Argyll and Bute Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Banff and Buchan Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Central Ayrshire Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East Dumfries and Galloway Dundee East Dundee West Dunfermline and West Fife East Dunbartonshire East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh East Edinburgh North and Leith Edinburgh South West Falkirk Glasgow Central Glasgow North Glasgow North East Glasgow North West Glasgow South Glasgow South West Glenrothes Gordon Inverclyde Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Kilmarnock and Loudoun Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Lanark and Hamilton East Linlithgow and East Falkirk Livingston Midlothian Moray Motherwell and Wishaw Na h-Eileanan an Iar North Ayrshire and Arran North East Fife Ochil and South Perthshire Paisley and Renfrewshire North Paisley and Renfrewshire South Perth and North Perthshire Ross, Skye and Lochaber Rutherglen and Hamilton West Stirling West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine West Dunbartonshire

Labour (1)	Edinburgh South

Conservative (1)	Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale

Liberal Democrat (1)	Orkney and Shetland

Independent (2)	Edinburgh West Glasgow East

Scotland European constituency: Scottish National Party (2) Labour (2) Conservative (1) UKIP (1)

Westminster constituencies of Scotland

1708 to 1832 1832 to 1868 1868 to 1885 1885 to 1918 1918 to 1950 1950 to 1955 1955 to 1974 1974 to 1983 1983 to 1997 1997 to 2005

Current constituencies (2005 to present)

Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Airdrie & Shotts Angus Argyll & Bute Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock Banff & Buchan Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross Central Ayrshire Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East Dumfries & Galloway Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale Dundee East Dundee West Dunfermline & West Fife East Dunbartonshire East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh East Edinburgh North & Leith Edinburgh South Edinburgh South West Edinburgh West Falkirk Glasgow Central Glasgow East Glasgow North Glasgow North East Glasgow North West Glasgow South Glasgow South West Glenrothes Gordon Inverclyde Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey Kilmarnock & Loudoun Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath Lanark & Hamilton East Linlithgow & East Falkirk Livingston Midlothian Moray Motherwell & Wishaw Na h-Eileanan an Iar North Ayrshire & Arran North East Fife Ochil & South Perthshire Orkney & Shetland Paisley & Renfrewshire North Paisley & Renfrewshire South Perth & North Perthshire Ross, Skye & Lochaber Rutherglen & Hamilton West Stirling West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine West Dunbartonshire

Coordinates: 55°54′50″N 3°09′31″W / 55.91389°N 3.15861°W / 55.91389; -3.15861

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