Edinburgh Eastern

This article is about the Scottish Parliament constituency. For the UK Parliament constituency, see Edinburgh East.

Edinburgh Eastern
Former burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh Eastern shown within the Lothian electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population	86,488 (2019)
Former constituency
Created	2011
Abolished	2026
Party	None (Independent)
MSP	Ash Regan
Council area	City of Edinburgh
Created from	Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh Central
Replaced by	Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent, Edinburgh North Eastern and Leith, Edinburgh Southern,

Edinburgh Eastern (Gaelic: Dùn Èideann an Ear) was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament covering part of the council area of Edinburgh. Under the additional-member system used for elections to the Scottish Parliament, the seat elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election, and was also one of nine constituencies in the Lothian electoral region, which elected seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

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, Edinburgh South, which were abolished, along with an area formerly in the Edinburgh Central constituency, which was retained on new boundaries at this review. As a result of the second periodic review of Scottish Parliament boundaries, the constituency was abolished ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. The area covered by the former constituency was divided between the new seats of Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent, Edinburgh North Eastern and Leith and Edinburgh Southern.

The seat had been held by Ash Regan since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election until its abolition in 2026. Regan had originally been elected as an SNP member; she defected to Alba on 28 October 2023, and subsequently left it on 10 October 2025, sitting as an independent from then until the dissolution of parliament.

Electoral region

See also: Lothian (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

During the period Edinburgh Eastern was in existence, the other eight constituencies of the Lothian region were: Almond Valley, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh Southern, Edinburgh Western, Linlithgow and Midlothian North and Musselburgh

In this period the region included 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

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

The following electoral wards of the City of Edinburgh Council were used to define Edinburgh Eastern in the 2011 boundary review:

• 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
	2025		Ind.

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
	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					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
	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
	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.