Friday May 8th 2026
Scottish Parliament
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Joe Sullivan
The winners of the Edinburgh North Eastern and Leith seat and the Edinburgh North West seat have been announced.
The SNP has won Edinburgh North Eastern and Leith, keeping education minister Ben MacPherson in post and beating back a dedicated Green campaign.
He took the seat by just over 3,000 votes, winning 13,630 votes over the Greens’ runner up, Kate Nevens, on 10,559 votes.
The constituency, like most in the Edinburgh region, is new, coming into existence after a boundary change which came into effect for the 2026 election.
He held the predecessor seat for ten years.
Labour brought in 7894 votes, the Liberal Democrats brought in 1,897 votes, and the Conservatives 1,297.
The Liberal Democrats have won Edinburgh North Western handedly, returning the party’s Holyrood leader Alex Cole-Hamilton to the Scottish Parliament.
He brought in 22,959 votes, far in advance of the SNP’s Lyn Jardine, who brought in 9,943.
One Liberal Democrat member said Cole-Hamilton’s votes could be weighed instead of counted before the declaration.
Reform brought in 3,342 votes, Labour brought in 1,879, and the Conservatives took 1,749.
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