Midlothian is a constituency

United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

 of the Scottish Parliament

Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...

 (Holyrood

Scottish Parliament Building

The Scottish Parliament Building is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. Construction of the building commenced in June 1999 and the Members of the Scottish Parliament held their first debate in the new building on 7...

). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP)

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...

 by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, however, it is one of nine constituencies in the Lothians electoral region

Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions

Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions were first used in 1999, in the first general election of the Scottish Parliament , created by the Scotland Act 1998....

, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

 for the region as a whole.

For the Scottish Parliament election, 2011, Midlothian is being abolished, with the creation of two new constituencies called Midlothian North and Musselburgh

Midlothian North and Musselburgh (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Midlothian North and Musselburgh is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

, and Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale

Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It will elect one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

.

Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the Lothians region are Edinburgh Central

Edinburgh Central (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh Central is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh

Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh East and Musselburgh is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

, Edinburgh North and Leith

Edinburgh North and Leith (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh North and Leith is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

, Edinburgh Pentlands

Edinburgh Pentlands (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh Pentlands is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

, Edinburgh South

Edinburgh South (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh South was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

, Edinburgh West

Edinburgh West (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh West is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

, Linlithgow

Linlithgow (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Linlithgow is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

 and Livingston

Livingston (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Livingston was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election....

.

The region covers the City of Edinburgh council area, the West Lothian council area

West Lothian

West Lothian is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, North Lanarkshire, the Scottish Borders and South Lanarkshire....

, part of the Midlothian council area

Midlothian

Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....

, and part of the East Lothian council area

East Lothian

East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh....

.

Constituency boundaries and council area

The Midlothian constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999

Scottish Parliament election, 1999

The Scottish Parliament election, 1999 was the first general election of the Scottish Parliament, with voting taking place on 6 May 1999 to elect 129 members...

, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency

Midlothian (UK Parliament constituency)

Midlothian in Scotland, is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post voting system....

. In 2005

United Kingdom general election, 2005

The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....

, however, Scottish Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies.

The Holyrood constituency is one of two covering the Midlothian council area

Midlothian

Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....

. The other constituency, Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale

Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

, covers a western portion of the Midlothian council area, and straddles its boundary with the Scottish Borders council area

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...

. Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale is within the South of Scotland electoral region.

Boundary review

Following their First Periodic review of constituencies to the Scottish Parliament, the Boundary Commission for Scotland has recommended extending the current Midlothian constituency into a newly formed seat of Midlothian North and Musselburgh with the western boundary to the south of Auchendinny

Auchendinny

Auchendinny is a small village near Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland. The village had a paper mill at Dalmore, until its closure in 2005. Nearby Auchendinny House was the last country house designed by gentleman architect Sir William Bruce.-References:...

. The other constituency covering the Midlothian council area is a modified Midlothian South, Tweedale, and Lauderdale constituency.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999 Scottish Parliament election, 1999 The Scottish Parliament election, 1999 was the first general election of the Scottish Parliament, with voting taking place on 6 May 1999 to elect 129 members...	Rhona Brankin Rhona Brankin Rhona Brankin is a former Labour Co-operative Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Midlothian constituency. She was first elected in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003 and 2007...	Labour Scottish Labour Party The Scottish Labour Party is the section of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland....
	2003 Scottish Parliament election, 2003 The Scottish Parliament election, 2003, was the second general election of the Scottish Parliament. It was held on 1 May 2003 and it brought no change in terms of control of the Scottish Executive...
	2007 Scottish Parliament election, 2007 The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999...

Election results