Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (UK Parliament constituency).

Edinburgh East and Musselburgh was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, however, it is one of nine constituencies in the Lothians electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
Former burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh shown within the Lothians electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Former constituency
Created	1999
Abolished	2011
Council area	City of Edinburgh
Replaced by	Edinburgh Eastern, Midlothian North and Musselburgh

For the Scottish Parliament election, 2011, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh is abolished. The successor constituencies are Edinburgh Eastern, and Midlothian North and Musselburgh.

Electoral region

See also Lothians (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other eight constituencies of the Lothians region were: Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh North and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh West, Linlithgow, Livingston and Midlothian.

The region covered the City of Edinburgh council area, the West Lothian council area, part of the Midlothian council area, and part of the East Lothian council area.

Constituency boundaries

The Edinburgh East and Musselburgh 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.^[1]

From the Scottish Parliament election, 2011, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh was abolished. Musselburgh now forms part of a newly shaped Midlothian North and Musselburgh, while eastern Edinburgh is brought together into a newly named Edinburgh Eastern.

Council areas

The Holyrood constituency covers an eastern portion of the City of Edinburgh council area and the Musselburgh portion of the East Lothian council area.

The rest of the city area is covered by five other constituencies, all also in the Lothians electoral region: Edinburgh South, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh North and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, and Edinburgh West, which are all entirely within the city area. Edinburgh East and Musselburgh has boundaries with the Edinburgh South constituency, the Edinburgh Central constituency and the Edinburgh North and Leith constituency.

The rest of the East Lothian area is covered by the East Lothian constituency, which is in the South of Scotland electoral region.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Kenny MacAskill of the SNP, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, had represented the seat since the 2007 election. He was previously an MSP for the Lothians regional list from 1999 to 2007.

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Susan Deacon	Scottish Labour Party
	2007	Kenny MacAskill	Scottish National Party
	2011	constituency abolished: replaced by Edinburgh Eastern

Election results

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh East and Musselburgh

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Kenny MacAskill	11,209	37.4	+15.0
	Labour	Norman Murray	9,827	32.8	-10.8
	Liberal Democrats	Gillian Cole-Hamilton	5,473	18.3	+6.0
	Conservative	Christine Wright	3,458	11.5	-1.8
Majority			1,382	4.6	N/A
Turnout			29,967	52.9	+2.6
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	+13.3

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh East and Musselburgh

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Susan Deacon	12,655	43.57	−2.62
	SNP	Kenny MacAskill	6,497	22.37	−5.67
	Conservative	John Smart	3,863	13.30	+0.86
	Liberal Democrats	Gary Peacock	3,582	12.33	+1.85
	Scottish Socialist	Derek Durkin	2,447	8.43	+6.55
Majority			6,158	21.20	+3.05
Turnout			29,044	50.33	−11.44
	Labour hold		Swing

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh East and Musselburgh

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Susan Deacon	17,086	46.19	N/A
	SNP	Kenny MacAskill	10,370	28.04	N/A
	Conservative	Jeremy Balfour	4,600	12.44	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Marjorie Thomas	4,100	11.08	N/A
	Scottish Socialist	Derrick White	697	1.88	N/A
Majority			6,714	18.15	N/A
Turnout			36,853	61.77	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• Politics of Edinburgh

Footnotes

1. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland September 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine