Edinburgh Southern is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament ( Holyrood) covering part of the

council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Act. ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. It is 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 Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

for the region as a whole. The seat has been held by Daniel Johnson of Scottish Labour since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

Electoral region

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

Linlithgow Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a ...

and Midlothian North and Musselburgh. The region includes all of the

City of Edinburgh council area The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland. In its current form, the counci ...

, parts of the

East Lothian council area East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

, parts of the Midlothian council area and all of the West Lothian council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

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 Southern constituency was created as a result of the

First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and largely replaced the Edinburgh South constituency. For the

2011 Scottish Parliament election The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the Additional M ...

, Edinburgh South was redrawn and renamed "Edinburgh Southern". The electoral wards used in this seat are: * Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart, Morningside, Southside/Newington (shared with Edinburgh Central) * Liberton/Gilmerton, Portobello/Craigmillar (shared with Edinburgh Eastern) * Sighthill/Gorgie shared with (Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Pentlands)

Constituency profile and voting patterns

Edinburgh Southern is an extremely affluent suburban constituency wedged across the inner south of the City of Edinburgh. The constituency is largely composed of leafy Victorian townhousing based around the suburbs of Newington, Morningside,

Craiglockhart Craiglockhart (; gd, Creag Longairt) is a suburb in the south west of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying between Colinton to the south, Morningside to the east Merchiston to the north east, and Longstone and Kingsknowe to the west. The Water of Leith ...

Blackford Blackford might refer to: People with the surname *Charles Minor Blackford (1833–1903), an American lawyer *Hosea Blackford, a fictional character in books by Harry Turtledove *Ian Blackford, a Scottish politician *Isaac Blackford (1786–1859), ...

and

Merchiston Merchiston ( ) is a residential area around Merchiston Avenue in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. Location Merchiston Avenue is 1.3 miles Southwest of the West End of Edinburgh's principal street, Princes Street. Other areas near Merchi ...

, with some social housing in parts of Prestonfield and Liberton. Edinburgh Southern has a colourful mix of political traditions, with the equivalent Edinburgh South constituency at Westminster being represented by the Conservatives until being won by Labour's

Nigel Griffiths Nigel Griffiths (born 20 May 1955) is a British Labour Party politician, and former Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh South from 1987 to 2010. Early life Nigel Griffiths was educated at Hawick High School in the Scottish Borders befo ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

. It has since returned Labour MPs, becoming Labour's only Scottish constituency at Westminster in 2015 following a landslide election for the Scottish National Party, who took 56 of 59 Westminster constituencies in Scotland. At the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh South returned a Labour constituency MSP in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, voting

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

in both 2003 and 2007 before being narrowly won by the SNP in 2011. In

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, it became Labour's only constituency seat gain at the Scottish Parliament, despite the fact that the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

had the largest share of the vote on the regional list vote in the constituency.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election results

2020s

2010s

References

External links

* {{Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions 2011- Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions from 2011 Constituencies of the Scottish Parliament 2011 establishments in Scotland Constituencies established in 2011 Constituencies in Edinburgh