Edinburgh Leith (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Edinburgh Leith
Former Burgh constituency
for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland City of Edinburgh
1950–1997
SeatsOne
Created from Leith
Replaced by Edinburgh North and Leith

Edinburgh Leith was a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Contents

There was also an earlier Leith constituency, 1918 to 1950, and a yet earlier Leith Burghs constituency, 1832 to 1918.

Boundaries

1950 to 1955

The constituency was first defined by the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949, and first used in the 1950 general election, as one of seven constituencies covering the city of Edinburgh and the Midlothian burgh of Musselburgh. [1] The other six constituencies were Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh East, Edinburgh North, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh South, and Edinburgh West, and the rest of the county of Midlothian was covered by the Midlothian and Peebles constituency, which also covered the county of Peebles. [1]

The Edinburgh Leith constituency was entirely within the city, and covered the Central Leith, South Leith, and West Leith wards. [1] Therefore, the area of the constituency was similar to that of the former burgh of Leith, as merged into the city in 1920.

1950 boundaries were used also for the 1951 general election. [1]

1955 to 1983

The results of the First Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission were implemented for the 1955 general election, and Edinburgh Leith was again one of seven constituencies covering the city of Edinburgh and the burgh of Musselburgh, all named as during the 1950 to 1955 period. [1] The rest of the county of Midlothian was now covered, however, by the new Midlothian constituency. [1]

The Edinburgh Leith constituency again covered wards named Central Leith, South Leith, and West Leith, but the overall boundary of the constituency was different. [1]

For the county of Midlothian, inclusive of the city of Edinburgh, the general pattern established by the First Periodical Review was maintained for the general elections of 1959, 1964, 1966, 1970, February 1974, October 1974 and 1979. There were boundary adjustments, however, which became effective for the 1964 election and, as a result of the Second Periodical Review, for the February 1974 election. [1]

Edinburgh Leith was not affected by the 1964 changes. For the February 1974 election, the constituency was designed to cover the Central Leith, South Leith, and West Leith wards and part of the Pilton ward of city. [1]

1983 to 1997

The results of the Third Periodical Review, which took account of the abolition of Scottish counties and burghs in 1975 and the creation of two-tier regions and districts and unitary islands council areas under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, were implemented for the 1983 general election, and 1983 boundaries were used also in the general elections of 1987 and 1992.

Between 1983 and 1997 the electoral wards used to create Edinburgh Leith were 12–14, 17, and 18, and part of 23 [2]

As a result of the Fourth Periodical Review, Edinburgh Leith was abolished, and Edinburgh North and Leith was created for the 1997 general election.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember [3] Party
1950 James Hoy Labour
1970 Ronald King Murray Labour
1979 Ron Brown Labour
1991 Independent
1992 Malcolm Chisholm Labour
1997 constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Edinburgh Leith [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour James Hoy 18,11149.22
National Liberal Eoin Cameron Mekie15,84143.05
Liberal Thomas McGill Frew2,8467.73
Majority2,2706.17
Turnout 36,79880.71
Labour win (new seat)
General election 1951: Edinburgh Leith [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour James Hoy 19,30850.09+0.87
National Liberal Eoin Cameron Mekie19,23649.91+6.86
Majority720.18-5.99
Turnout 38,54484.05+3.34
Labour hold Swing -3.00
General election 1955: Edinburgh Leith [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour James Hoy 16,33749.38-0.71
National Liberal Janet Sutherland Shearer10,69332.32-17.59
Independent Liberal Andrew Murray 6,05518.30New
Majority5,64417.06+16.87
Turnout 33,08577.79-6.26
Labour hold Swing +8.44
General election 1959: Edinburgh Leith [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour James Hoy 15,09247.78-1.60
National Liberal Gershom Stewart12,01838.05+5.73
Liberal Andrew Murray 4,47514.17-4.13
Majority3,0749.73-7.33
Turnout 31,58579.46+1.67
Labour hold Swing -3.67

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Edinburgh Leith [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour James Hoy 15,93455.50+7.72
National Liberal Gershom Stewart12,77744.50+6.45
Majority3,15711.00+1.27
Turnout 28,71177.86-1.60
Labour hold Swing +0.64
General election 1966: Edinburgh Leith [9]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour James Hoy 15,40756.79+1.29
Conservative Archie Elliott 11,44342.18-2.32
Communist Honor Arundel 2791.03New
Majority3,96414.61+3.61
Turnout 27,12976.09-1.77
Labour hold Swing +1.81

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Edinburgh Leith [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Ronald Murray 12,06646.29-9.5
Conservative Archie Elliott 10,68240.98-1.2
SNP Mary G Thomson1,8277.01New
Liberal Joyce Shein1,4905.72New
Majority1,3845.31-9.30
Turnout 26,06573.11-2.98
Labour hold Swing -4.15
General election February 1974: Edinburgh Leith [11] [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Ronald Murray 12,60440.58-5.71
Conservative William Robert Victor Percy11,88338.26-2.72
SNP Hugh Miller6,56921.15+14.14
Majority7212.32-2.99
Turnout 31,05679.31+6.20
Labour hold Swing -1.50
General election October 1974: Edinburgh Leith [13] [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Ronald Murray 11,70839.69-0.89
Conservative William Robert Victor Percy8,26328.01-10.25
SNP Robert John Dinwoodie Scott7,68826.07+4.91
Liberal Arthur John Heley Squair1,8366.22New
Majority3,44511.68+9.36
Turnout 29,49574.85-4.46
Labour hold Swing +4.68
General election 1979: Edinburgh Leith [14] [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Ron Brown 12,96146.30+6.61
Conservative Aidan Joseph McLernan8,94431.95+3.94
Liberal Keith Graeme Aitken3,38212.08+5.86
SNP William Richard Platt2,7069.67-16.40
Majority4,01714.35+2.67
Turnout 27,99375.24+0.39
Labour hold Swing +1.34

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Edinburgh Leith [15]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Ron Brown 16,17739.71-7.33
SDP David Graham11,20427.51+14.3
Conservative Brian Cooklin10,70626.28-2.7
SNP John Young2,6466.50-4.26
Majority4,97312.20-2.1
Turnout 40,73367.26-9.9
Labour hold Swing
General election 1987: Edinburgh Leith [16] [15]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Ron Brown 21,104 49.3 +9.6
Conservative Duncan Menzies 9,77722.9-3.4
SDP Shelia Wells7,84318.3-9.2
SNP William Morrison4,0459.5+3.0
Majority11,32726.4+14.2
Turnout 42,76970.9+3.6
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Edinburgh Leith [17]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Malcolm Chisholm 13,790 34.2 −15.1
SNP Fiona Hyslop 8,80521.8+12.3
Conservative Mohammed Rizvi8,49621.1−1.8
Liberal Democrats Hilary C. Campbell4,97512.3−6.0
Independent Labour Ron Brown 4,14210.3New
Natural Law Alan J. Swan960.2New
Majority4,98512.4-14.0
Turnout 40,30471.1+0.2
Labour hold Swing -13.8

See also

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 As per Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 ( ISBN   0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig, 1972
    Craig published ahead of the February 1974 general election, but he knew the outcome of the Second Periodical Review, which concluded in 1969
  2. ↑ "Westminster constituencies 1983-1997" (PDF). Boundary Commission for Scotland .[ permanent dead link ]
  3. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 2)
  4. ↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1950". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  5. ↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1951". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  6. ↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1955". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  7. ↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1959". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  8. ↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1964". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  9. ↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1966". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  10. ↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1970". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  11. ↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results February 1974". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  12. 1 2 3 "'Edinburgh Leith', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  13. ↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results October 1974". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 28 August 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  14. ↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1970". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  15. 1 2 "'Edinburgh Leith', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  16. ↑ "UK General Election results June 1987". Richard Kimber's political science resources. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
  17. ↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

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