Lothians (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

Lothians
Former electoral region for the Scottish Parliament
Lothians shown within Scotland
Former electoral region
Created	1999
Abolished	2011
Council areas	City of Edinburgh East Lothian (part) Midlothian (part) West Lothian
Constituencies	Edinburgh Central Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh South Edinburgh West Linlithgow Livingston Midlothian
Replaced by	Lothian

The Lothians was one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) from 1999 to 2011. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies were sub-divisions of the region and it elected seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Thus it elected a total of 16 MSPs.

The Lothians region shared boundaries with the South of Scotland and Central Scotland regions, and was connected with the Mid Scotland and Fife region by bridges over the Firth of Forth.

As a result of the First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries it is largely replaced by the Lothian region.

The council areas City of Edinburgh and West Lothian are entirely within the region. Most of the East Lothian council area is outside, covered by the East Lothian constituency, which is in the South of Scotland region. A western portion of the Midlothian council area is covered by the Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale constituency, within the South of Scotland region.

Council areas are as defined in 1996, and may be subject to change after the next Scottish Parliament election.

The constituencies were created in 1999 with the names and boundaries of Westminster constituencies, as existing in at that time. Scottish Westminster constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies in 2005.^[1]

In terms of first past the post constituencies the region includes:

Map

Constituency

Edinburgh Central covers the central area of the City of Edinburgh. Edinburgh East and Musselburgh covers north east of the City of Edinburgh and the Musselburgh area of East Lothian. Edinburgh North and Leith covers the northern part of the City of Edinburgh. Edinburgh Pentlands covers the south western portion of the City of Edinburgh. Edinburgh South covers the south eastern portion of the City of Edinburgh. Edinburgh West covers the north western portion of the City of Edinburgh. Linlithgow covers the eastern part of the West Lothian. Livingston covers the western part of the West Lothian. Midlothian covers the eastern part of Midlothian.

The table below displays the Members of the Scottish Parliament that were elected from the Lothians region between 1999 and 2011. From the 2011 election the Lothian region was used.

N.B. This table is for presentation purposes only

In the 2007 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

• 5 Labour MSPs (four constituency members and one additional member)
• 5 Scottish National Party MSPs (two constituency members and three additional members)
• 2 Liberal Democrat MSPs (two constituency members)
• 2 Conservative MSPs (one constituency and one additional member)
• 1 Scottish Green Party MSPs (additional members)
• 1 Independent MSP (additional member)

Changes:

• On 31 August 2007, Stefan Tymkewycz resigned to concentrate on being a councillor at the City of Edinburgh Council and was replaced by Shirley-Anne Somerville.

In the 2003 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

• 6 Labour MSPs (all constituency members)
• 2 Liberal Democrat MSPs (two constituency members)
• 2 Conservative MSPs (one constituency and one additional member)
• 2 Scottish Green Party MSPs (both additional members)
• 2 Scottish National Party MSPs (both additional members)
• 1 Independent MSP (additional member)
• 1 Scottish Socialist Party MSP (additional member)

In the 1999 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

• 8 Labour MSPs (all constituency members)
• 3 Scottish National Party MSPs (all additional members)
• 2 Liberal Democrat MSPs (one constituency member and one additional member)
• 2 Conservative MSPs (both additional members)
• 1 Green Party MSP (additional member)