Edinburgh South West (UK Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh South West is a Scottish constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, first used at the 2005 UK general election. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. Since 2024, it has been represented by Scott Arthur of the Labour Party.

Edinburgh South West
Burgh constituency for the House of Commons
Interactive map of boundaries from 2024
Location within Scotland
Subdivisions of Scotland	City of Edinburgh
Electorate	73,315 (March 2020)[1]
Major settlements	Wester Hailes, Bonaly, Balerno, Gorgie
Current constituency
Created	2005
Member of Parliament	Scott Arthur (Labour)
Created from	Edinburgh Pentlands and Edinburgh Central

Constituency profile

Edinburgh South West covers a south western portion of the city around the Lanark Road. It has an urban north east including Gorgie and Slateford, and a suburban centre including Wester Hailes. The southwest part is rural and extends into the Pentland Hills.

The seat is left-leaning and pro-EU, with wealthier residents than the UK average.^[2]

Boundaries

Edinburgh South West is one of five constituencies covering the City of Edinburgh council area. All are entirely within the city council area.

Prior to the 2005 general election, the city area had been covered by six constituencies and, of the six, there was one, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, which straddled the boundary with the East Lothian council area, to include Musselburgh.

Edinburgh South West is mostly a replacement for the former Edinburgh Pentlands constituency, but excludes some of the east of that constituency. Also, it includes a south western portion of the former Edinburgh Central constituency.^[3] The Scottish Parliament uses different boundaries. Edinburgh South West is mostly contained within the Edinburgh Pentlands constituency for elections to the Scottish Parliament, with some parts of the north and east of the seat being located in the constituencies of Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Southern and Edinburgh Western.

2005–2024: Under the Fifth Review of UK Parliament constituencies which came into effect for the 2005 general election, the boundaries of the constituency were defined in accordance with the ward structure in place on 30 November 2004 and comprised the following wards of the City of Edinburgh Council: Balerno, Baberton, Colinton, Craiglockhart, Dalry, Firrhill, Fountainbridge, Moat, Murrayburn, Parkhead, Shandon and Sighthill. As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, in 2007 these wards were replaced with new wards which were not aligned with the constituency boundaries. Further minor changes were made to ward boundaries in 2017.

2024–present: Under the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency boundaries were virtually unchanged and comprise the following wards or part wards of the City of Edinburgh Council: ^[4][5]

• The bulk of Pentland Hills ward - excluding Ratho and surrounding rural areas;
• a small part of Drum Brae/Gyle ward;
• the bulk of Sighthill/Gorgie ward - excluding the Saughton area;
• the majority of Colinton/Fairmilehead - excluding the Fairmilehead area;
• the whole of Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart ward;
• two small areas of Morningside ward; and
• the southwestern part of City Centre, including the West End and Tollcross areas.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	2005	Alistair Darling	Labour
	2015	Joanna Cherry	SNP
	2024	Scott Arthur	Labour

Election results

Elections in the 2020s

2024 general election: Edinburgh South West^[6][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Scott Arthur	18,663	40.9	+26.6
	SNP	Joanna Cherry	12,446	27.3	−20.3
	Conservative	Sue Webber	5,558	12.2	−12.4
	Scottish Green	Dan Heap	3,450	7.6	+5.2
	Liberal Democrats	Bruce Wilson	3,014	6.6	−2.9
	Reform UK	Ian Harper	2,087	4.6	+3.4
	Scottish Family	Richard Lucas	265	0.6	N/A
	Independent	Marc Wilkinson	181	0.4	N/A
Majority			6,217	13.6	N/A
Turnout			45,664	61.9	−9.0
	Labour gain from SNP		Swing	+23.5

Elections in the 2010s

2019 general election: Edinburgh South West^[8][9][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Joanna Cherry	24,830	47.6	+12.0
	Conservative	Callum Laidlaw	12,848	24.6	−8.8
	Labour	Sophie Cooke	7,478	14.3	−12.5
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Inglis	4,971	9.5	+5.2
	Scottish Green	Ben Parker	1,265	2.4	N/A
	Brexit Party	David Ballantine	625	1.2	N/A
	SDP	Mev Brown	114	0.2	N/A
Majority			11,982	23.0	+20.8
Turnout			52,131	70.9	+1.5
	SNP hold		Swing	+10.4

2017 general election: Edinburgh South West^[11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Joanna Cherry	17,575	35.6	−7.4
	Conservative	Miles Briggs	16,478	33.4	+13.2
	Labour	Foysol Choudhury	13,213	26.8	−0.4
	Liberal Democrats	Aisha Mir	2,124	4.3	+0.6
Majority			1,097	2.2	−13.6
Turnout			49,390	69.4	−2.1
	SNP hold		Swing	-10.2

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Edinburgh South West

2015 general election: Edinburgh South West^[13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Joanna Cherry	22,168	43.0	+30.8
	Labour	Ricky Henderson	14,033	27.2	−15.6
	Conservative	Gordon Lindhurst	10,444	20.2	−4.1
	Scottish Green	Richard Doherty	1,965	3.8	+1.9
	Liberal Democrats	Daniel Farthing-Sykes	1,920	3.7	−14.3
	UKIP	Richard Lucas	1,072	2.1	N/A
Majority			8,135	15.8	N/A
Turnout			51,602	71.5	+3.0
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	+23.2

2010 general election: Edinburgh South West^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alistair Darling	19,473	42.8	+3.0
	Conservative	Jason Rust	11,026	24.3	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats	Tim McKay	8,194	18.0	−3.1
	SNP	Kaukab Stewart	5,530	12.2	+1.6
	Scottish Green	Clare Cooney	872	1.9	−1.6
	Scottish Socialist	Colin Fox	319	0.7	−0.6
	Communist League	Caroline Bellamy	48	0.1	N/A
Majority			8,447	18.5	+2.0
Turnout			45,462	68.5	+3.1
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.0

Elections in the 2000s

2005 general election: Edinburgh South West^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Alistair Darling	17,476	39.8
	Conservative	Gordon Buchan	10,234	23.3
	Liberal Democrats	Simon Clark	9,252	21.1
	SNP	Nick Elliott-Cannon	4,654	10.6
	Scottish Green	John Blair-Fish	1,520	3.5
	Scottish Socialist	Pat Smith	585	1.3
	UKIP	William Boys	205	0.5
Majority			7,242	16.5
Turnout			43,926	65.4
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• Politics of Edinburgh