Edinburgh Western (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh Western (Gaelic: Dùn Èideann an Iar) is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the City of Edinburgh council area. 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 for the region as a whole.

Edinburgh Western
Former burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh Western shown within the Lothian electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population	85,095 (2019)[1]
Former constituency
Created	2011
Abolished	2026
Party	Scottish Liberal Democrats
MSP	Alex Cole-Hamilton
Council area	City of Edinburgh
Created from	Edinburgh West
Replaced by	Edinburgh North Western, Edinburgh Northern

The constituency was created in 2011, when it replaced the former Edinburgh West Scottish Parliament constituency.

The seat has been held by Alex Cole-Hamilton of the Scottish Liberal Democrats since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

As a result of the second periodic review of Scottish Parliament boundaries in 2025, Edinburgh Western will be abolished. The bulk of the seat will form the new constituency of Edinburgh North Western from the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. A portion also be transferred to the new Edinburgh Northern constituency.^[2][3]

Electoral region

See also: Lothian (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other eight constituencies of the Lothian region are: Almond Valley, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Eastern, Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh Southern, Linlithgow and Midlothian North and Musselburgh.

The region includes all of the City of Edinburgh council area, 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

Map of boundaries from 2011

The City of Edinburgh 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 West constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies.^[4]

For the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, Edinburgh West was redrawn and renamed "Edinburgh Western". The electoral wards used in this seat are:^[5]

• In full: Almond, Drum Brae/Gyle
• In part: Forth, Inverleith (shared with Edinburgh Northern and Leith), Corstorphine/Murrayfield (shared with Edinburgh Central)

Members of the Scottish Parliament

As Edinburgh Western

Election		Member	Party
	2011	Colin Keir	SNP
	2016	Alex Cole-Hamilton	Liberal Democrats

Election results

2020s

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Western^[6][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Alex Cole-Hamilton[a]	25,578	54.7	12.8	11,923	25.5	4.6
	SNP	Sarah Masson	15,693	33.5	0.9	14,409	30.7	1.4
	Conservative	Sue Webber	2,798	6.0	8.3	9,350	20.0	5.6
	Labour	Margaret Graham	2,515	5.4	4.0	5,140	11.0	0.6
	Green					4,101	8.7	1.8
	Alba					614	1.3	New
	All for Unity					240	0.5	New
	Animal Welfare					237	0.5	New
	Scottish Family					227	0.5	New
	Scottish Libertarian	Daniel Fraser	201	0.4	New	107	0.2	New
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament					94	0.2	New
	Freedom Alliance (UK)					90	0.2	New
	Women's Equality					86	0.2	0.6
	Reform					64	0.1	New
	Communist					44	0.1	New
	UKIP					42	0.1	1.4
	Independent	Ashley Graczyk				27	0.1	New
	SDP					25	0.1	New
	Renew					9	0.0	New
Majority			9,885	21.2	13.7
Valid Votes			46,785			46,829
Invalid Votes			116			67
Turnout			46,901	71.5	6.8	46,895	71.5	6.8
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing		6.9
Notes Incumbent member for this constituency

In 2021, Edinburgh Western set the record for the most votes ever cast for a single candidate in a Scottish Parliament election.^[9]

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Western^[10][11]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Region
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Alex Cole-Hamilton	16,645	41.9	14.1	8,321	20.9	9.0
	SNP	Toni Giugliano	13,685	34.4	1.4	12,835	32.2	5.9
	Conservative	Sandy Batho	5,686	14.3	0.8	10,199	25.6	10.8
	Labour	Cat Headley	3,750	9.4	12.0	4,624	11.6	5.9
	Green					2,760	6.9	1.8
	UKIP					594	1.5	0.7
	Women's Equality					309	0.8	New
	RISE					115	0.3	New
	Solidarity					101	0.3	0.2
Majority			2,960	7.5	N/A
Valid Votes			39,766			39,858
Invalid Votes			124			55
Turnout			39,890	64.7	5.0	39,913	64.7	5.1
	Liberal Democrats gain from SNP		Swing
Notes

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Western^[12][13][14]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Region
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Colin Keir	11,965	35.8	N/A	12,747	38.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Smith[a]	9,276	27.7	N/A	3,988	11.9	N/A
	Labour	Lesley Hinds	7,164	21.4	N/A	5,870	17.5	N/A
	Conservative	Gordon Lindhurst	5,047	15.1	N/A	4,952	14.8	N/A
	Independent	Margo MacDonald[a]				2,707	8.1	N/A
	Green					1,728	5.2	N/A
	All-Scotland Pensioners Party					424	1.3	N/A
	UKIP					268	0.8	N/A
	BNP					200	0.6	N/A
	Liberal					156	0.5	N/A
	Socialist Labour					131	0.4	N/A
	Scottish Christian					92	0.3	N/A
	Scottish Socialist					92	0.3	N/A
	CPA					66	0.2	N/A
	Solidarity					28	0.1	N/A
	Independent	Ken O'Neil				12	0.0	N/A
	Independent	Mev Brown				6	0.0	N/A
	Independent	David Hogg				6	0.0	N/A
Majority			2,689	7.9	N/A
Valid Votes			33,452			33,473
Invalid Votes			152			99
Turnout			33,604	59.6	N/A	33,572	59.6	N/A
	SNP win (new seat)
Notes Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

See also

• Politics of Edinburgh