Subdivisions of Scotland City of Edinburgh Created from Edinburgh Member of parliament Michelle Thomson | Created 1885 European Parliament constituency Scotland Replaced by Edinburgh | |
 | ||
Edinburgh West is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (at Westminster), first used in the 1885 general election. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Prior to the 2005 general election the constituency had the same boundaries as the Scottish Parliament constituency with the same name, which had been created in 1999. See Edinburgh West (Scottish Parliament constituency).
This commuter belt constituency, distinctively in the city, was a safe Unionist/Conservative seat for over 65 years, from the 1931 general election until the 1997 general election, after which the seat was held by the Liberal Democrats until the 2015 general election. The current MP is Michelle Thomson, who was elected as an SNP member in May 2015. In September 2015, she resigned the party whip so she currently sits as an Independent.
Boundaries
The constituency was created when the Edinburgh constituency was abolished, in 1885, in favour of four new constituencies: Edinburgh East, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh South and Edinburgh West. The Central constituency was abolished in 2005. The East constituency was abolished in 1997, but a new Edinburgh East was created in 2005. The South and West constituencies have been in continuous use (with alterations to boundaries) since 1885.
The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 provided that the constituency was to consist of the Municipal Wards of St. Andrew, St. Stephen, St. Bernard, and St. Luke.
In 1918 the constituency consisted of the "Dalry, Gorgie, Haymarket and St. Bernard's Municipal Wards of Edinburgh."
Prior to the 2005 general election, Edinburgh West was one of six constituencies 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.
Constituency boundaries were revised for the 2005 election. Edinburgh West was enlarged, to include an area formerly within Edinburgh Central, and became one of five constituencies covering the city area.
The constituency now covers a north western portion of the city area. It is mostly suburban, but takes in rural areas within the city area, to the west of central Edinburgh. In terms of wards used in elections to the City of Edinburgh Council, 1999 to 2007, the constituency includes the wards of Cramond, Dalmeny and Kirkliston, Davidson's Mains, East Craigs, Gyle, Muirhouse and Drylaw, Murrayfield, North East Corstorphine, Queensferry, South East Corstorphine and Stenhouse.
These wards were replaced with new wards in 2007, as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, and none of the new wards were wholly within the constituency. Almond and Constorphine/Murrayfield are almost entirely within it except for a small corner of each one. The constituency also includes a majority of Drum Brae/Gyle, a minority of Pentland Hills and small sections of Forth, Inverleith, City Centre and Sighthill/Gorgie.