Edinburgh Pentlands (UK Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh Pentlands
Edinburgh Pentlands
Former burgh constituency; for the House of Commons
	Boundary of Edinburgh Pentlands in Scotland for the 2001 general election
Major settlements	Edinburgh
1950–2005
Seats	One
Created from	Midlothian and Peebles Northern and Edinburgh South
Replaced by	Edinburgh South West; Edinburgh South

Edinburgh Pentlands was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, first used in the general election of 1950, and abolished prior to the general election of 2005. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

In 1999, a Scottish Parliament constituency was created with the same name and boundaries, and continues in use. See Edinburgh Pentlands (Scottish Parliament constituency).

Boundaries

1950–1955: The Colinton, Gorgie-Dalry, Merchiston and Sighthill wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh.^[1]

1955–1974: The Colinton, Merchiston and Sighthill wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh, and part of the Gorgie-Dalry ward.^[2]

1974–1983: The Colinton and Sighthill wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh, and part of the Merchiston ward.^[3]

1983–1997: Electoral divisions 10 (Balerno/Baberton), 24 (Hailes), 25 (Sighthill/Longstone), 35 (Colinton/Firrhill) and 36 (Braidburn/Fairmilehead) in the City of Edinburgh.^[4]

1997–2005: Electoral divisions 10 (Balerno/Baberton), 22 (Longstone/Craiglockhart), 30 (Sighthill/Broomhouse), 31 (Colinton/Firrhill), and 35 (Braidburn/Fairmilehead) in the City of Edinburgh.^[5]

In 2005, prior to the general election, the Westminster constituency 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. Edinburgh Pentlands covered a south-western portion of the city council area.

In terms of wards used for elections to the City of Edinburgh Council, 1999 to 2007, Edinburgh Pentlands included wards named Balerno, Baberton, Colinton, Craiglockhart, Fairmilehead, Firrhill, Murrayburn, Parkhead, and Sighthill. The South Morningside ward was split between Edinburgh Pentlands and Edinburgh South. The seat had an urban north and a suburban centre. The remaining area was rural, and included a Pentland Hills area in the south.

In 2005, most of the constituency became part of Edinburgh South West. The Fairmilehead and South Morningside wards went to Edinburgh South. For the 2005 election, there were five constituencies covering the city area, all entirely within that area.^[6]

Members of Parliament

Malcolm Rifkind was the longest serving MP for Edinburgh Pentlands, serving from 1974 to 1997.

Election		Member^[7]	Party
	1950	Lord John Hope	Unionist
	1964	Norman Wylie	Unionist
	1965	Norman Wylie	Conservative
	Feb 1974	Malcolm Rifkind	Conservative
	1997	Lynda Clark	Labour
2005		constituency abolished: see Edinburgh South West & Edinburgh South

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Unionist	John Hope	23,107	50.54
	Labour	Thomas Alexander MacNair	17,912	39.18
	Liberal	Charlotte R McNee	4,703	10.29
Majority			5,195	11.36
Turnout			45,722	82.01
	Unionist win (new seat)

General election 1951: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Unionist	John Hope	27,804	57.67
	Labour	David Connell	20,405	42.33
Majority			7,399	15.34
Turnout			48,209	83.34
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1955: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	John Hope	23,496	59.47	+1.80
	Labour	David Connell	16,011	40.53	−1.80
Majority			7,485	18.94	+3.60
Turnout			39,507	77.28	−7.06
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1959: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	John Hope	25,742	60.30	+0.83
	Labour	John Mackintosh	16,950	39.70	−0.83
Majority			8,792	20.60	+1.36
Turnout			42,692	80.28	+3.00
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Norman Wylie	20,181	46.04
	Labour	Magnus John Williamson	17,794	40.59
	Liberal	Charles L Abernethy	5,862	13.37	New
Majority			2,387	5.45
Turnout			43,837	81.57
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1966: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Norman Wylie	19,176	44.94
	Labour	William Wallace	19,132	44.84
	Liberal	Donald Clarke	4,363	10.22
Majority			44	0.10
Turnout			42,671	80.48
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Norman Wylie	21,829	46.11
	Labour	Ewan George Francis Stewart	18,646	39.38
	Liberal	Donald Clarke	4,055	8.56
	SNP	A.W. Stephen Rae	2,814	5.94	New
Majority			3,183	6.72
Turnout			47,344	76.90
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Malcolm Rifkind	18,162	41.20
	Labour	John McWilliam	13,560	30.76
	Liberal	Stanley Patrick Ross-Smith	6,870	15.58
	SNP	T Forrest	5,491	12.46
Majority			4,602	10.44
Turnout			44,083	80.88
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Malcolm Rifkind	14,083	33.93
	Labour Co-op	George Foulkes	12,826	30.90
	SNP	J Hutchinson	10,189	24.55
	Liberal	Stanley Patrick Ross-Smith	4,411	10.63
Majority			1,257	3.03
Turnout			41,509	75.53
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1979: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Malcolm Rifkind	17,684	39.28	+5.35
	Labour	AJ Johnstone	16,486	36.62	+5.72
	Liberal	Colin Luckhurst	5,919	13.15	+2.52
	SNP	Stephen Maxwell	4,934	10.96	−13.59
Majority			1,198	2.66	−0.37
Turnout			45,023	76.76	+1.23
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Edinburgh Pentlands^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Malcolm Rifkind	17,051	39.19	−5.1
	SDP	Keith Smith	12,742	29.28	+15.7
	Labour	Eric Milligan	10,390	23.88	−6.2
	SNP	Neil MacCormick	2,642	6.07	−5.8
	Ecology	Alistair Nicol-Smith	687	1.58	New
Majority			4,309	9.90	+7.2
Turnout			43,512	73.38	−5.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1987: Edinburgh Pentlands^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Malcolm Rifkind	17,278	38.27	−0.9
	Labour	Mark Lazarowicz	13,533	29.98	+6.1
	SDP	Keith Smith	11,072	24.52	−5.2
	SNP	Neil MacCormick	3,264	7.23	+1.1
Majority			3,745	8.30	−1.6
Turnout			45,147	77.67	+4.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Edinburgh Pentlands^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Malcolm Rifkind	18,128	40.7	+2.4
	Labour Co-op	Mark Lazarowicz	13,838	31.1	+1.1
	SNP	Kathleen Caskie	6,882	15.4	+8.2
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Smith	5,597	12.6	−11.9
	Natural Law	David Rae	111	0.2	New
Majority			4,290	9.6	+1.3
Turnout			44,556	80.2	+2.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1997: Edinburgh Pentlands^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lynda Clark	19,675	43.0	+11.9
	Conservative	Malcolm Rifkind	14,813	32.4	−8.3
	SNP	Stewart Gibb	5,952	13.0	−2.4
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Dawe	4,575	10.0	−2.6
	Referendum	Malcolm McDonald	422	0.9	New
	Scottish Green	Robin Harper	224	0.5	New
	UKIP	Alistair McConnachie	81	0.2	New
Majority			4,862	10.6	N/A
Turnout			45,742	76.7	−3.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+10.1

Election in the 2000s

General election 2001: Edinburgh Pentlands^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lynda Clark	15,797	40.6	−2.4
	Conservative	Malcolm Rifkind	14,055	36.1	+3.7
	Liberal Democrats	David Walker	4,210	10.8	+0.8
	SNP	Stewart Gibb	4,210	10.8	−2.2
	Scottish Socialist	James Mearns	555	1.4	New
	UKIP	Bill McMurdo	105	0.3	+0.1
Majority			1,742	4.5	−5.9
Turnout			38,932	64.4	−12.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.1

Notes and references

^ "Representation of the People Act 1948: Schedule 1", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1948 c. 65 (sch. 1), retrieved 23 July 2023
^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) (Edinburgh Central and Edinburgh Central) Order 1955. SI 1955/24". Statutory Instruments 1955. Part II. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1956. pp. 2192–2193.
^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1970", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1970/1680, retrieved 23 July 2023
^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1983", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1983/422, retrieved 23 July 2023
^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1995", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1995/1037, retrieved 23 July 2023
^ "Fifth Periodical Review". Boundary Commission for Scotland. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007.
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)
^ "Election Data 1983". 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 1992". 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 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[1] "Representation of the People Act 1948: Schedule 1", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1948 c. 65 (sch. 1), retrieved 23 July 2023

[2] "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) (Edinburgh Central and Edinburgh Central) Order 1955. SI 1955/24". Statutory Instruments 1955. Part II. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1956. pp. 2192–2193.

[3] "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1970", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1970/1680, retrieved 23 July 2023

[4] "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1983", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1983/422, retrieved 23 July 2023

[5] "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1995", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1995/1037, retrieved 23 July 2023

[6] "Fifth Periodical Review". Boundary Commission for Scotland. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007.

[7] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)

[electoralcalculus1983-8] "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus1987-9] "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus1992-10] "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus1997-11] "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus2001-12] "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

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