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Edinburgh West Burgh constituency
Edinburgh West shown within Scotland
Created:	1885
MP:	John Barrett
Party:	Liberal Democrats
Type:	House of Commons
Council areas:	City of Edinburgh
EP constituency:	Scotland

Edinburgh West is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (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).

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 Members of Parliament 3 Election results 4 Politics and history of the constituency 5 Notes and references 5.1 See also

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.

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.^[1]

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 are due to be replaced with new wards in 2007, as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004.

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Thomas Buchanan	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1888 by-election		Liberal
	1892	Viscount Wolmer	Liberal Unionist
	1895	Lewis McIver	Liberal Unionist
	1909 by-election	James Avon Clyde	Liberal Unionist
	1918	John Gordon Jameson	Coalition Conservative
	1922	Henry Vivian Phillipps	Liberal
	1924	Ian MacIntyre	Unionist
	1929	George Mathers	Liberal
	1931	Wilfrid Guild Normand,	Unionist
	1935	Thomas Mackay Cooper	Unionist
	1941 by-election	Ian Clark Hutchison	Unionist
	1959	James Anthony Stodart	Unionist/Conservative
	Oct. 1974	Lord James Douglas-Hamilton	Conservative
	1997	Donald Gorrie	Liberal Democrat
	2001	John Andrew Barrett	Liberal Democrat

General Election 2005: Edinburgh West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	John Barrett	22,417	49.5%	+11.2
	Conservative	David Brogan	8,817	19.5%	-2.2
	Labour	Navraj Singh Ghaleigh	8,433	18.6%	-7.9
	Scottish National Party	Sheena Cleland	4,124	9.1%	-1.6
	Scottish Green Party	Ailsa Spindler	964	2.1%	+2.1
	Scottish Socialist Party	Gary Clark	510	1.1%	-1.0
Majority			13600	30.0%
Turnout			45,265	68.9	+5.4
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	+6.7

General Election 2001: Edinburgh West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	John Barrett	16,719	42.4	-0.9
	Labour	Elspeth Alexandra	9,130	23.1	+4.3
	Conservative	Iain Whyte	8,894	22.5	-5.4
	Scottish National Party	Alyn Smith	4,047	10.3	+1.4
	Scottish Socialist Party	Bill Scott	688	1.7	N/A
Majority			7,589	19.3
Turnout			39,478	63.2	-14.8
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Edinburgh West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lord James Douglas-Hamilton	18,071
	Liberal Democrat	Donald Gorrie	17,192
	Labour	Ms I Kitson	7,759
	Scottish National Party	Graham Sutherland	4,117
	Liberal	A. Fleming	272		N/A
	Scottish Green Party	Ms L. Hendry	234
	British National Party	D. Bruce	133
Majority			879
Turnout				82.67
	Conservative hold		Swing

By-election 1941: Edinburgh West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lt Com Ian Clark Hutchison RN	unopposed

General Election 1931: Edinburgh West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Wilfrid Guild Normand KC	31,407
	Labour	George Mathers	12,704

General Election 1906: Edinburgh West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Lewis McIver Bt	3,949	52.0
	Liberal	Rt Hon Leonard Courtney	3,643	48.0

By-election 1888: Edinburgh West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Ryburn Buchanan	3,294
	Liberal Unionist	_____ Raleigh	3,248

General Election 1886: Edinburgh West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Ryburn Buchanan	3,083
	Liberal	Robert Wallace	2,393

General Election 1885: Edinburgh West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Ryburn Buchanan	3,083
	Conservative	George Audjo Jamieson	2,625

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This commuter belt constituency, distinctively in the city, was a safe Unionist/Conservative seat for over 65 years, from 1931 general election until the 1997 general election; since that election the seat has been held by the Liberal Democrats.

1. ^ Fifth Periodical Review, Boundary Commission for Scotland

• Politics of Edinburgh

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