Politics of Edinburgh

The politics of Edinburgh are expressed in the deliberations and decisions of the

Also, as Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh is host to the Scottish Parliament and the main offices of the Scottish Government.

The City of Edinburgh became a unitary council area in 1996, under the

As one of the

The next tier of government is that of the

The

On 18 September 2014, Edinburgh voted "No" in the Independence referendum by 61.1% to 38.9% with an 84.4% turnout rate.^[1]

The City of Edinburgh Council

The current Lord Provost of Edinburgh is Robert Aldridge, who replaced Frank Ross in 2022.^[2] In Scotland, the Lord Provost fulfils many similar roles to that of a Mayor in some other countries. Cllr Aldridge has been on the Council since 1984, previously leading the Liberal Democrat group, and was elected unanimously. He was the first Lord Provost to welcome a new monarch (Charles III) to Edinburgh with the Ceremony of the Keys since 1952.

Elections to the Council are held every four/five years electing 63 councillors. The most recent elections took place in

As of 2013, the Council was the second-largest employer in Edinburgh, with a total of 18,617 employees.[4]

Council political composition

^[5]

The Edinburgh Corporation and former local government

Prior to the

In 1975, Edinburgh Corporation was abolished. The new two-tier system consisted of Lothian Regional Council (with responsibility for water, education, social work and transport) and the City of Edinburgh District Council (with responsibility for cleansing and libraries). The City of Edinburgh became a single-tier

Parliament of the United Kingdom

For elections to the

Prior to the

• Edinburgh Central constituency was abolished and split between the original Edinburgh North and Leith and Edinburgh West constituencies and an entirely new constituency that was created – Edinburgh South West.
• Edinburgh East and Musselburgh took in parts of the Edinburgh North and Leith seat, with the town of Musselburgh being transferred into the East Lothian constituency, with the new seat renamed Edinburgh East.
• Edinburgh Pentlands constituency was also divided between the new Edinburgh South West seat and the existing Edinburgh South seat.
• Edinburgh North and Leith was increased in size by taking in parts of the old Edinburgh Central constituency.
• Edinburgh South was expanded in size taking in elements of the old Edinburgh Pentlands seat.
• Edinburgh South West was an entirely new constituency created for the 2005 UK general election taking in elements of the old Edinburgh Central seat, the original Edinburgh West seat and Edinburgh Pentlands seat.
• Edinburgh West was expanded to include some parts of the defunct Edinburgh Central seat.

Current political composition:

Constituencies since 1708

Edinburgh has been used in ten different constituency names since 1708, the date of the first election to the Parliament of Great Britain (which was merged into the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1801). There have been up to six Edinburgh constituencies at any one time.

Two names, Edinburgh South and Edinburgh West have been in continuous use since 1885. One name, Edinburgh East, also first used in 1885, fell out of use in 1997 and returned to use in 2005.

Survival of a name does not in itself mean that a constituency's boundaries have been unaltered.

Lists of constituencies:

Scottish Parliament

For elections to the

Until the 2005 United Kingdom general election, Edinburgh Scottish Parliament and Parliament of the United Kingdom constituencies were coterminous (shared the same geographical boundaries). The Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004, a piece of United Kingdom Parliament legislation, had removed the link, to enable Scottish Parliament constituencies to retain established boundaries despite the introduction of new boundaries for United Kingdom Parliament constituencies.

In the

The following additional members were elected to represent the Lothian electoral region:

Scottish Independence referendum, 2014

At the 2014 Scottish independence referendum voters in Edinburgh rejected independence by a margin of 61.1% No to 38.9% Yes. Turnout was 84.4%. Numerically, Edinburgh had the largest number of No votes out of all 32 council areas in Scotland with 194,638 No votes to 123,927 Yes votes. The difference between the number of Yes and No votes was largest in Edinburgh by comparison to any other council area in Scotland at 70,711. The results were in marked contrast to those in Glasgow, where each of the city's constituencies voted Yes.

Results by UK Parliament constituency

UK European Union membership referendum, 2016

In 2016, Edinburgh voted in the European Union membership referendum. While the United Kingdom as a whole voted to leave the EU, Edinburgh overwhelmingly voted to Remain, giving the ninth highest Remain vote share of any counting area. Only Gibraltar and seven boroughs in London had higher vote shares for Remain.

See also

• Incorporated Trades of Edinburgh
• List of Lord Provosts of Edinburgh
• Lothian Regional Council
• Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004
• Politics of Aberdeen
• Politics of Dundee
• Politics of Glasgow
• Politics of Scotland
• Politics of the Highland council area

References