Edinburgh Central (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Edinburgh Central (UK Parliament constituency).

Edinburgh Central (Gaelic: Dùn Èideann Meadhain) is a burgh 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 also 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.

Edinburgh Central
Burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh Central shown within the Lothian electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population	94,040 (2019)
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	Angus Robertson
Council area	City of Edinburgh

The constituency was created with the name and boundaries of a constituency of the Edinburgh Central UK Parliament constituency. Since 1999, the constituency MSP has been an ex officio member of the board of trustees of the National Library of Scotland. From 1925 until 1999, that role had been taken by the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Westminster constituency.

The constituency was one of the few areas to vote "Yes" in the 2011 UK Alternative Vote referendum held on the same day as the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.

The seat has been held by Angus Robertson of the Scottish National Party since the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

Electoral region

See also: Lothian (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

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

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 Central constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies.

As part of the First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries the boundaries of the constituency were changed before the 2011 Scottish Parliament election. Each electoral ward used in the creation of the redrawn Central is split, shared with neighbouring constituencies.

• Inverleith (shared with Edinburgh Northern and Leith and Edinburgh Western)
• Corstorphine/Murrayfield (shared with Edinburgh Western)
• Sighthill/Gorgie (shared with Edinburgh Pentlands and Edinburgh Southern)
• Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart (shared with Edinburgh Southern)
• Morningside (shared with Edinburgh Southern)
• City Centre (shared with Edinburgh Eastern)
• Southside/Newington (shared with Southern)

Constituency profile and voting patterns

Constituency profile

The Edinburgh Central constituency is situated in the central-north of the City of Edinburgh. The constituency is a major tourist, financial and retail centre, covering Edinburgh's Old and New Towns, Princes Street, Haymarket, Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Castle and the Scottish Parliament building itself.

The north and west of the constituency is very affluent, covering Victorian suburbs such as Craigleith, Murrayfield, Stockbridge and Orchard Brae, in addition to Edinburgh's well-off West End. There is some deprivation towards the south and east of the constituency around Dalry, Dumbiedykes and in patches of Edinburgh's Old Town, although overall the constituency is very affluent.

Voting patterns

In the 2007 City of Edinburgh local council election, the Liberal Democrats emerged as the largest party in wards covered by the Edinburgh Central constituency. In the 2012 local election, the Conservatives and Scottish National Party formed the two largest parties in the area. The Conservatives were ahead in 6 of the 8 electoral wards covering the Edinburgh Central constituency in the 2017 City of Edinburgh local council election.

Traditionally this constituency has been represented by the Labour Party, with the Liberal Democrats forming the main opposition. From the formation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 until the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the constituency of Edinburgh Central was represented by Labour's Sarah Boyack. With a re-arrangement of the constituency boundaries in 2011, which would have been won by the Liberal Democrats in 2007, the constituency narrowly returned the SNP's Marco Biagi, who gained the constituency with a slender majority of 237 votes. In 2016 the Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, Ruth Davidson, gained the constituency from the SNP with a majority of 610 votes. No candidate has ever won over 40% of the vote in the constituency since its establishment.

In the UK Parliament, the Edinburgh Central constituency was represented by the Labour Party almost continuously from the 1945 UK general election until the constituency was abolished in 2005, voting Conservative once in 1983.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Sarah Boyack	Labour
	2011	Marco Biagi	SNP
	2016	Ruth Davidson	Conservatives
	2021	Angus Robertson	SNP

Election results

2020s

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Central

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Angus Robertson	16,276	39.0	10.4	12,476	29.9	3.7
	Conservative	Scott Douglas	11,544	27.7	2.7	9,766	23.4	5.7
	Labour	Maddy Kirkman	6,839	16.4	5.7	6,866	16.4	0.8
	Scottish Green	Alison Johnstone	3,921	9.4	4.2	7,604	18.2	1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Bruce Wilson	2,555	6.1	1.2	3,075	7.4	1.4
	Independent	Bonnie Prince Bob	363	0.9	New
	Alba					639	1.5	New
	All for Unity					279	0.7	New
	Animal Welfare					179	0.4	New
	Women's Equality					161	0.4	1.8
	Scottish Family					154	0.4	New
	Freedom Alliance (UK)					102	0.2	New
	Scottish Libertarian	Tam Laird	137	0.3	0.0	93	0.2	New
	Communist					90	0.2	New
	Reform UK					88	0.2	New
	Independent	Ashley Graczyk				75	0.2	New
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament					48	0.1	New
	SDP					33	0.1	New
	UKIP	Donald Mackay	78	0.2	New	30	0.1	1.1
	Renew					18	0.0	New
Majority			4,732	11.3	N/A
Valid Votes			41,713			41,776
Invalid Votes			121			59
Turnout			41,834	62.7	5.2	41,835	62.7	5.2
	SNP gain from Conservative		Swing		6.6
Notes

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Central

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ruth Davidson	10,399	30.4	15.4	9,946	29.1	13.2
	SNP	Alison Dickie	9,789	28.6	4.1	8,962	26.2	3.8
	Labour	Sarah Boyack	7,546	22.1	9.8	5,899	17.3	2.3
	Scottish Green	Alison Johnstone	4,644	13.6	New	5,799	17.0	2.6
	Liberal Democrats	Hannah Bettsworth	1,672	4.9	15.6	2,048	6.0	3.7
	Women's Equality					743	2.2	New
	UKIP					395	1.2	0.6
	RISE					284	0.8	New
	Scottish Libertarian	Tom Laird	119	0.3	New
	Solidarity					90	0.3	0.1
Majority			610	1.8	N/A
Valid Votes			34,169			34,166
Invalid Votes			107			68
Turnout			34,276	57.5	3.0	34,234	57.5	2.8
	Conservative gain from SNP		Swing
Notes

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Central

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Region
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Marco Biagi	9,480	32.7	N/A	8,768	30.0	N/A
	Labour	Sarah Boyack	9,243	31.9	N/A	5,716	19.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Alex Cole-Hamilton	5,937	20.5	N/A	2,849	9.7	N/A
	Conservative	Iain McGill	4,354	15.0	N/A	4,659	15.9	N/A
	Scottish Green					4,213	14.4	N/A
	Independent	Margo MacDonald				1,988	6.8	N/A
	All-Scotland Pensioners Party					236	0.8	N/A
	UKIP					182	0.6	N/A
	Scottish Socialist					145	0.5	N/A
	Socialist Labour					105	0.4	N/A
	BNP					97	0.3	N/A
	Liberal					71	0.2	N/A
	Scottish Christian					68	0.2	N/A
	CPA					44	0.2	N/A
	Solidarity					46	0.2	N/A
	Independent	Ken O'Neil				24	0.1	N/A
	Independent	David Hogg				14	0.0	N/A
	Independent	Mev Brown				5	0.0	N/A
Majority			237	0.8	N/A
Valid Votes			29,014			29,230
Invalid Votes			224			90
Turnout			29,238	54.5	N/A	29,320	54.7	N/A
	SNP win (new boundaries)
Notes

2000s

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sarah Boyack	9,155	31.1	−1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Siobhan Mathers	7,962	27.1	+4.2
	SNP	Shirley-Anne Somerville	7,496	25.5	+7.8
	Conservative	Fiona Houston	4,783	16.3	−0.8
Majority			1,193	4.0	−5.5
Turnout			29,396	52.9	+6.8
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.8

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sarah Boyack	9,066	32.4	−5.6
	Liberal Democrats	Andy Myles	6,400	22.9	+6.3
	SNP	Kevin Pringle	4,965	17.7	−8.0
	Conservative	Peter Finnie	4,802	17.1	+1.0
	Scottish Socialist	Catriona Grant	2,552	9.1	+6.9
	Scottish People's	James O'Neill	229	0.8	New
Majority			2,666	9.5	−2.9
Turnout			28,014	46.1	−10.6
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.0

1990s

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Sarah Boyack	14,224	38.0
	SNP	Ian McKee	9,598	25.7
	Liberal Democrats	Andy Myles	6,187	16.5
	Conservative	Jacqui Low	6,018	16.1
	Scottish Socialist	Kevin Williamson	830	2.2
Majority			4,626	12.4
Turnout			36,857	56.7
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• Politics of Edinburgh

External links

• "Edinburgh Central constituency map" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. Retrieved 5 July 2021.