Edinburgh Eastern (Scottish Parliament constituency)

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

Edinburgh Eastern (Gaelic: Dùn Èideann an Ear) is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Edinburgh. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the Lothian electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Edinburgh Eastern
Burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh Eastern shown within the Lothian electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population	86,488 (2019)
Current constituency
Created	2011
Party	Alba Party
MSP	Ash Regan
Council area	City of Edinburgh
Created from	Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Edinburgh South

The constituency was created for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, and includes areas that were formerly part of the constituencies of Edinburgh East and Musselburgh and Midlothian North and Musselburgh, which were abolished. The seat has been held by Ash Regan since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, originally an SNP politician, she defected to Alba on 28 October 2023.

Electoral region

See also: Lothian (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other eight constituencies of the Lothian region are: Almond Valley, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh Southern, Edinburgh Western, Linlithgow and Midlothian North and Musselburgh

The region includes all of the City of Edinburgh council area, parts of the East Lothian council area, parts of the Midlothian council area and all of the West Lothian council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

Edinburgh is represented in the Scottish Parliament by six constituencies: Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Eastern, Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh Southern and Edinburgh Western.

Edinburgh Eastern uses the following electoral wards:

• In full: Craigentinny/Duddingston
• In part: City Centre, Leith, Liberton/Gilmerton, Portobello/Craigmillar

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	2011	Kenny MacAskill	SNP
	2016	Ash Regan
	2023		Alba

Election results

2020s

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Eastern

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Ash Regan	22,658	52.4	5.1	17,182	39.6	1.3
	Labour	Bill Cook	12,541	29.0	4.0	9,105	21.0	3.2
	Conservative	Graham Hutchison	5,970	13.8	2.3	6,839	15.8	1.0
	Scottish Green					6,292	14.5	3.0
	Liberal Democrats	Jill Reilly	2,035	4.7	1.1	1,583	3.6	1.1
	Alba					866	2.0	New
	Animal Welfare					299	0.7	New
	Scottish Family					279	0.6	New
	All for Unity					271	0.6	New
	Women's Equality					134	0.3	0.9
	Freedom Alliance (UK)					102	0.2	New
	Reform UK					96	0.2	New
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament					94	0.2	New
	Communist					66	0.2	New
	Scottish Libertarian					59	0.1	New
	UKIP					64	0.1	1.8
	Independent	Ashley Graczyk				50	0.1	New
	SDP					28	0.1	New
	Renew					12	0.0	New
Majority			10,117	23.4	9.1
Valid Votes			43,204			43,421
Invalid Votes			270			97
Turnout			43,474	61.0	4.3	43,518	61.0	4.2
	SNP hold		Swing		4.6
Notes

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Eastern

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Ash Regan	16,760	47.3	0.1	14,557	40.9	0.6
	Labour	Kezia Dugdale	11,673	33.0	7.1	8,615	24.2	5.6
	Conservative	Nick Cook	5,700	16.1	7.5	5,969	16.8	9.2
	Scottish Green					4,098	11.5	4.3
	Liberal Democrats	Cospatric d'Inverno	1,264	3.6	0.4	892	2.5	0.1
	UKIP					684	1.9	1.3
	Women's Equality					417	1.2	New
	RISE					212	0.6	New
	Solidarity					183	0.5	0.3
Majority			5,087	14.3	7.0
Valid Votes			35,397			35,627
Invalid Votes			277			71
Turnout			35,624	56.7	1.3	35,698	56.8	1.4
	SNP hold		Swing		3.5
Notes

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Edinburgh Eastern

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Region
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Kenny MacAskill	14,552	47.4	N/A	12,380	40.3	N/A
	Labour	Ewan Aitken	12,319	40.1	N/A	9,171	29.8	N/A
	Conservative	Cameron Buchanan	2,630	8.6	N/A	2,335	7.6	N/A
	Independent	Margo MacDonald				2,313	7.5	N/A
	Scottish Green					2,219	7.2	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Veart	1,227	4.0	N/A	795	2.6	N/A
	All-Scotland Pensioners Party					445	1.4	N/A
	Socialist Labour					225	0.7	N/A
	BNP					224	0.7	N/A
	UKIP					182	0.6	N/A
	Scottish Socialist					144	0.5	N/A
	Scottish Christian					109	0.4	N/A
	CPA					66	0.2	N/A
	Liberal					62	0.2	N/A
	Solidarity					54	0.2	N/A
	Independent	Ken O'Neil				15	0.0	N/A
	Independent	Mev Brown				6	0.0	N/A
	Independent	David Hogg				5	0.0	N/A
Majority			2,233	7.3	N/A
Valid Votes			30,728			30,750
Invalid Votes			157			137
Turnout			30,885	55.4	N/A	30,887	55.4	N/A
	SNP win (new seat)
Notes

External links

• "Edinburgh Eastern constituency map" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. Retrieved 6 July 2021.