Edinburgh and Lothian seats at next general election: Final proposals for new boundaries across region

Edinburgh East will include big chunk of Musselburgh while West Lothian’s two constituencies are redrawn

Final proposals for Scotland's electoral map for the next UK general election include moving a big chunk of Musselburgh from East Lothian to Edinburgh East and redrawing West Lothian's two constituencies.

The number of MPs representing Scotland at Westminster is being cut from 59 to 57, but there is no reduction in Edinburgh and the Lothians' representation. The Boundary Commission for Scotland's final recommendations for this area are largely unchanged from its revised proposals published in November 2022.

The commission's initial proposals, produced back in October 2021, transferred the western half of Musselburgh to Edinburgh East and named the remainder of the East Lothian constituency East Lothian Coastal. But both the new boundary and the name change were criticised in public responses, so the revised proposals took a larger part of Musselburgh into Edinburgh East in a bid to reflect local ties, and proposed calling the reduced East Lothian seat East Lothian and Lammermuirs.

The proposed map of Edinburgh and the Lothians for the next UK general election - the black lines mark the current boundaries, the coloured areas the proposed new constituencies. Image: Boundary Commission for Scotland.

Opposition to the changes remained but the commission decided to stick with its Edinburgh East & Musselburgh proposal, though it has changed the name of the other seat - to Lothian East. Changes to the other four Edinburgh seats - South, West, South West and North & Leith are mostly minor.

Meanwhile, the current Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency is scrapped in favour of one Falkirk seat and a new Bathgate and Linlithgow seat, which will also take in Whitburn. The other West Lothian seat, Livingston, will include Broxburn. Midlothian remains unchanged from its current boundaries. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak must call a general election within the next 18 months, but it is widely expected to be held in the spring or autumn of next year.

Lord Matthews, deputy chair of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, said: “The commission would like to thank all those who participated in our 2023 review by responding to our consultations and providing feedback to enable us to develop our final recommendations. We listened carefully to comments made on our proposals and made a number of changes to boundaries and to constituency names. We believe our final recommendations meet the requirements of the legislation governing the review and within those constraints fairly reflect the views expressed to us during our consultations.”