68 Responses to “Midlothian”

1. A Brown

   I notice that the Greens polled more votes than the tories in Bonyrigg in the council elections 2007 although the LDs did not put up a candidate.

   March 12th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
2. Calum Smith

   I wonder if Labour MSPs such as Rhona Brankin here and Wendy Alexander intentionally stepped down rather than facing the music? Could they see what was coming or did they really have personal reasons for leaving Holyrood?

   May 19th, 2011 at 7:54 pm
3. Euan Davidson

   Rhona Brankin had breast cancer so there is definatly personal reasons there

   July 11th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
4. Andrea

   Brankin also announced her decision to stand down in July 2010 when things weren’t supposed to go so bad for Labour

   July 11th, 2011 at 4:18 pm
5. Calum Smith

   If the SNP honeymoon continues, I imagine they have a good chance of gaining control of Midlothian Council, if not Glasgow and North Lanarkshire…

   December 5th, 2011 at 5:07 pm
6. A Cairns

   Midlothian perhaps – maybe de facto control with exactly half the seats.

   Whether the SNP can get overall control here (10 seats) might come down to whether they can get a 2nd seat in Penicuik as the LDs might salvage a solitary seat there.

   I think Labour will probably narrowly remain the largest party on Glasgow council and probably retain exactly half the seats on N Lan but
   I expect the SNP to become
   the largest party on S Lan.

   December 5th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
7. Calum Smith

   Interesting times certainly. A few years ago these possibilities wouldn’t really exist. Also, I see that an SNP candidate actually came first in each of the wards in Midlothian in 2007. A bit of trivia – I wonder if the Tories have any chance of gaining a solitary seat on Midlothian council – they came close to doing so in Midlothian East in 2007 and Westminster polls have actually being showing the party on the UP lately…!?

   December 5th, 2011 at 6:16 pm
8. Andy JS

   Former Labour MP Alex Eadie has died at the age of 91. He was the 12th oldest living former MP:

   htttp://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2012/01/26/former-labour-mp-eadie-dies/

   January 26th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
9. Barnaby Marder

   He was a right-winger in the NUM, this being historically a strong mining constituency. Perhaps with a view to reselection, he very surprisingly and out of character voted for Tony Benn for deputy leader in 1981 and was indeed reselected. Both subsequent Labour MPs here have been miners too, Eric Clarke who succeeded him having previously been the NUM’s representative on the party NEC. I think Alex Eadie’s predecessor was a miner as well.

   January 26th, 2012 at 10:47 pm
10. Harry Porter

    Eadie’s predecessor was James Hill (not of course to be confused with the Southampton Tory MP of the same name).

    There was also a much more sprawling constituency of the same name for many years until it was abolished for the 1918 general election. The last incumbent for that seat was the Tory Sir John Hope. The present constituency was created for the 1955 general election.

    January 27th, 2012 at 11:05 am
11. Barnaby Marder

    For some years Harry there was a South Midlothian & Peebles seat which was Labour-held (the mining areas in Midlothian outvoted the villages in Peebles) and a North Midlothian which included some very prosperous suburbs of Edinburgh such as Balerno & Currie which are still as solidly Tory as anywhere in Scotland. It is rather remarkable that their voting strength is not sufficient to prevent Alistair Darling holding a healthy majority in the constituency in which they are now included. North Midlothian wasn’t won by Labour up to its abolition & effective replacement by Edinburgh Pentlands.

    January 27th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
12. Harry Porter

    Pentlands was certainly marginal in the last 30 or so years of its existence, being held at the time by Malcolm Rifkind who was then defeated by Lynda Clark. Its area is now represented by Alistair Darling and Ian Murray.

    January 28th, 2012 at 5:24 pm
13. richard

    Did North Midlothian reach as far north as the sea?

    If not surely it was in reality Mid Midlothian?

    January 28th, 2012 at 8:36 pm
14. Dalek

    Edinburgh and Leith were part of Midlothian before the city corporation was established just as Dundee was part of Angus and Glasgow part of Lanarkshire.

    Oh….and Aberdeen was part of Aberdeenshire

    January 28th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
15. Pete Whitehead

    From 1885-1918 the Midlothian seat was generally known as Edinburghshire (though I think the names were interchangeable), rather as Angus was sometimes known as Forfarshire

    January 28th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
16. Barnaby Marder

    Yes Richard the N.Midlothian seat did reach the sea – the Linlithgow division was to its west. Incidentally in 1945 there was still a seat called Howdenshire though it became known as Howden thereafter, and the name of Richmondshire as a local authority has survived long after this (is it perhaps short for Richmond Yorkshire to distinguish it from the other Richmond?). The Angus seat was still called Forfar until 1950 when new divisions of North Angus & Mearns and South Angus were created.

    January 28th, 2012 at 10:24 pm
17. Joe James B

    The Midlothian Question will be resolved in the fullness of time.

    January 28th, 2012 at 11:22 pm
18. Dalek

    “From 1885-1918 the Midlothian seat was generally known as Edinburghshire (though I think the names were interchangeable), rather as Angus was sometimes known as Forfarshire”

    East Lothian was also known as Haddingtonshire.

    I also think that West Lothian was called Linlithgowshire (but am not certain on this one).

    January 28th, 2012 at 11:39 pm

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