Edinburgh Pentlands (UK Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh Pentlands
Former burgh constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Edinburgh Pentlands in Scotland for the 2001 general election
Major settlementsEdinburgh
1950–2005
SeatsOne
Created fromMidlothian and Peebles Northern and Edinburgh South
Replaced byEdinburgh South West
Edinburgh South (Part)

Edinburgh Pentlands was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, first used in the general election of 1950, and abolished prior to the general election of 2005. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

In 1999, the Edinburgh Pentlands Scottish Parliament constituency was created with the same name and boundaries, and continues in use.

Boundaries

1950–1955: The Colinton, Gorgie-Dalry, Merchiston and Sighthill wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh.[1]

1955–1974: The Colinton, Merchiston and Sighthill wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh, and part of the Gorgie-Dalry ward.[2]

1974–1983: The Colinton and Sighthill wards of the county of the city of Edinburgh, and part of the Merchiston ward.[3]

1983–1997: Electoral divisions 10 (Balerno/Baberton), 24 (Hailes), 25 (Sighthill/Longstone), 35 (Colinton/Firrhill) and 36 (Braidburn/Fairmilehead) in the City of Edinburgh.[4]

1997–2005: Electoral divisions 10 (Balerno/Baberton), 22 (Longstone/Craiglockhart), 30 (Sighthill/Broomhouse), 31 (Colinton/Firrhill), and 35 (Braidburn/Fairmilehead) in the City of Edinburgh.[5]

In 2005, prior to the general election, the Westminster constituency was one of six 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. Edinburgh Pentlands covered a south-western portion of the city council area.

In terms of wards used for elections to the City of Edinburgh Council, 1999 to 2007, Edinburgh Pentlands included wards named Balerno, Baberton, Colinton, Craiglockhart, Fairmilehead, Firrhill, Murrayburn, Parkhead, and Sighthill. The South Morningside ward was split between Edinburgh Pentlands and Edinburgh South. The seat had an urban north and a suburban centre. The remaining area was rural, and included a Pentland Hills area in the south.

In 2005, most of the constituency became part of Edinburgh South West. The Fairmilehead and South Morningside wards went to Edinburgh South. For the 2005 election, there were five constituencies covering the city area, all entirely within that area.[6]

Members of Parliament

Election Member[7] Party
1950 Lord John Hope Unionist
1964 Norman Wylie Unionist
1965 Conservative
Feb 1974 Malcolm Rifkind Conservative
1997 Lynda Clark Labour
2005 constituency abolished: see Edinburgh South West & Edinburgh South

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party Candidate Votes %
Unionist John Hope 23,107 50.54
Labour Thomas MacNair 17,912 39.18
Liberal Charlotte McNee 4,703 10.29
Majority 5,195 11.36
Turnout 45,722 82.01
Registered electors
Unionist win (new seat)
General election 1951: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist John Hope 27,804 57.67
Labour David Connell 20,405 42.33
Majority 7,399 15.34
Turnout 48,209 83.34
Registered electors
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1955: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist John Hope 23,496 59.47 +1.80
Labour David Connell 16,011 40.53 −1.80
Majority 7,485 18.94 +3.60
Turnout 39,507 77.28 −7.06
Registered electors
Unionist win (new boundaries)
General election 1959: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist John Hope 25,742 60.30 +0.83
Labour John Mackintosh 16,950 39.70 −0.83
Majority 8,792 20.60 +1.36
Turnout 42,692 80.28 +3.00
Registered electors
Unionist hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Norman Wylie 20,181 46.04
Labour Magnus John Williamson 17,794 40.59
Liberal Charles L Abernethy 5,862 13.37 New
Majority 2,387 5.45
Turnout 43,837 81.57
Registered electors
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1966: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Norman Wylie 19,176 44.94
Labour William Wallace 19,132 44.84
Liberal Donald Clarke 4,363 10.22
Majority 44 0.10
Turnout 42,671 80.48
Registered electors
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Edinburgh Pentlands
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Norman Wylie 21,829 46.11
Labour Ewan Stewart 18,646 39.38
Liberal Donald Clarke 4,055 8.56
SNP A.W. Stephen Rae 2,814 5.94 New
Majority 3,183 6.72
Turnout 47,344 76.90
Registered electors 61,563
Conservative hold Swing
1970 notional result[8]
Party Vote %
Conservative 17,000 45.70
Labour 14,800 39.78
Liberal 3,200 8.60
SNP 2,200 5.91
Turnout 37,200 76.79
Electorate 48,445
General election February 1974: Edinburgh Pentlands[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Malcolm Rifkind 18,162 41.20 –4.50
Labour John McWilliam 13,560 30.76 –9.02
Liberal Stanley Ross-Smith 6,870 15.58 +6.98
SNP T Forrest 5,491 12.46 +6.54
Majority 4,602 10.44 +4.53
Turnout 44,083 80.88 +4.09
Registered electors 54,504 +6,059
Conservative hold Swing +2.26
General election October 1974: Edinburgh Pentlands[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Malcolm Rifkind 14,083 33.93 –7.27
Labour Co-op George Foulkes 12,826 30.90 +0.14
SNP J Hutchinson 10,189 24.55 +8.96
Liberal Stanley Ross-Smith 4,411 10.63 –1.83
Majority 1,257 3.03 –7.41
Turnout 41,509 75.53 –5.35
Registered electors 54,955 +451
Conservative hold Swing –3.71
General election 1979: Edinburgh Pentlands[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Malcolm Rifkind 17,684 39.28 +5.35
Labour AJ Johnstone 16,486 36.62 +5.72
Liberal Colin Luckhurst 5,919 13.15 +2.52
SNP Stephen Maxwell 4,934 10.96 –13.59
Majority 1,198 2.66 –0.37
Turnout 45,023 76.76 +1.23
Registered electors 58,652 +3,697
Conservative hold Swing –0.18

Elections in the 1980s

1979 notional result[12]
Party Vote %
Conservative 20,064 44.3
Labour 13,635 30.1
Liberal 6,138 13.6
SNP 5,393 11.9
Others 54 0.1
Turnout 45,284
Electorate
General election 1983: Edinburgh Pentlands[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Malcolm Rifkind 17,051 39.2 –5.1
SDP Keith Smith 12,742 29.3 +15.7
Labour Eric Milligan 10,390 23.9 –6.2
SNP Neil MacCormick 2,642 6.1 –5.8
Ecology Alistair Nicol-Smith 687 1.6 New
Majority 4,309 9.9 +7.2
Turnout 43,512 73.4 –5.4
Registered electors 59,295
Conservative hold Swing –10.4
General election 1987: Edinburgh Pentlands[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Malcolm Rifkind 17,278 38.3 –0.9
Labour Mark Lazarowicz 13,533 30.0 +6.1
SDP Keith Smith 11,072 24.5 –4.8
SNP Neil MacCormick 3,264 7.2 +1.2
Majority 3,745 8.3 –1.6
Turnout 45,147 77.7 +4.3
Registered electors 58,125 –1,170
Conservative hold Swing –3.5

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Edinburgh Pentlands[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Malcolm Rifkind 18,128 40.7 +2.4
Labour Co-op Mark Lazarowicz 13,838 31.1 +1.1
SNP Kathleen Caskie 6,882 15.4 +8.2
Liberal Democrats Keith Smith 5,597 12.6 −12.0
Natural Law David Rae 111 0.2 New
Majority 4,290 9.6 +1.3
Turnout 44,556 80.2 +2.5
Registered electors 55,567 –2,558
Conservative hold Swing +0.7
1992 notional result[16][17]
Party Vote %
Conservative 18,474 40.2
Labour 14,326 31.2
SNP 7,203 15.7
Liberal Democrats 5,828 12.7
Others 127 0.3
Turnout 45,958 77.3
Electorate 59,432
General election 1997: Edinburgh Pentlands[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Lynda Clark 19,675 43.0 +11.8
Conservative Malcolm Rifkind 14,813 32.4 −7.8
SNP Stewart Gibb 5,952 13.0 −2.7
Liberal Democrats Jenny Dawe 4,575 10.0 –2.7
Referendum Malcolm McDonald 422 0.9 New
Green Robin Harper 224 0.5 New
UKIP Alistair McConnachie 81 0.2 New
Majority 4,862 10.6 N/A
Turnout 45,742 75.8 –3.5
Registered electors 60,338 +906
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +9.8

Election in the 2000s

General election 2001: Edinburgh Pentlands[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Lynda Clark 15,797 40.6 –2.4
Conservative Malcolm Rifkind 14,055 36.1 +3.7
Liberal Democrats David Walker 4,210 10.8 +0.8
SNP Stewart Gibb 4,210 10.8 –2.2
Scottish Socialist James Mearns 555 1.4 New
UKIP Bill McMurdo 105 0.3 +0.1
Majority 1,742 4.5 –6.2
Turnout 38,932 64.4 –11.4
Registered electors 60,484 +146
Labour hold Swing –3.1

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ "Representation of the People Act 1948: Schedule 1", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1948 c. 65 (sch. 1), retrieved 23 July 2023
  2. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) (Edinburgh Central and Edinburgh Central) Order 1955. SI 1955/24". Statutory Instruments 1955. Part II. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1956. pp. 2192–2193.
  3. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1970", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1970/1680, retrieved 23 July 2023
  4. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1983", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1983/422, retrieved 23 July 2023
  5. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1995", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1995/1037, retrieved 23 July 2023
  6. ^ "Fifth Periodical Review". Boundary Commission for Scotland. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007.
  7. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)
  8. ^ Michael Stead. "1970 notional general election & February 1974 general election". BBC. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  9. ^ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results February 1974". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  10. ^ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results October 1974". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 28 August 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  11. ^ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1979". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  12. ^ "BBC/ITN NOTIONAL ELECTION 1979". election.demon.co.uk. BBC/ITN. Archived from the original on 28 May 2004. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  13. ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  14. ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  15. ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  16. ^ "1992 (Implied) Election Result". electoralcalculus.co.uk. Electoral Calculus. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  17. ^ "Edinburgh Pentlands Result". bbc.co.uk/. BBC. Archived from the original on 23 October 2004. Retrieved 18 February 2026.
  18. ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  19. ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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