Edinburgh Southern (

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

: ''Dùn Èideann a Deas'') is a

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

of the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

( 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 Ac ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. 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 Lothian (; ; ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, while other signific ...

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 any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

for the region as a whole. The seat has been held by Daniel Johnson of

Scottish Labour Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party (UK), Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and Unionism in the United Kingdom, unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Sco ...

since the

2016 Scottish Parliament election The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth Next Scottish Parliament election, election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It ...

Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the Lothian region are: Almond Valley, Edinburgh Central,

Edinburgh Eastern Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh had a population of in ...

Edinburgh Northern and Leith Edinburgh Northern and Leith (Gaelic: ''Dùn Èideann a Tuath agus Lite'') is a 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 ...

, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh Western,

Linlithgow Linlithgow ( ; ; ) 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 historic route between Edi ...

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

City of Edinburgh council area The City of Edinburgh Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Dhùn Èideann'') is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority covering the City of Edinburgh council area. Almost half of the council area is the built-up are ...

, 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

is represented in the

by six constituencies: Edinburgh Central,

, 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 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 Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart is one of the 17 wards of the City of Edinburgh Council. It elects three councillors. Established in 2007 along with the other wards, it covers a compact suburban area south-west of the centre of Edinburgh including ...

, Morningside, Southside/Newington (shared with Edinburgh Central) * Liberton/Gilmerton, Portobello/Craigmillar (shared with

) * 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 (; ) 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 is also to the w ...

Blackford Blackford might refer to: People with the surname * Charles Minor Blackford (1833–1903), American lawyer *Hosea Blackford, a fictional character in books by Harry Turtledove *Ian Blackford (born 1961), Scottish politician *Inger Mewburn (Inger B ...

and

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

, with some social housing in parts of

Prestonfield Prestonfield may refer to the one of following: * Prestonfield, Edinburgh, an area of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland *Prestonfield, Linlithgow, a football stadium in Linlithgow, Scotland, home of Linlithgow Rose F.C. See also *Prestonfield House ...

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 before ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

. It has since returned Labour MPs, becoming Labour's only Scottish constituency at Westminster in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, voting

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

in both

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

before being narrowly won by the SNP in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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