Holyrood elections 2026: All you need to know about the new constituency of Edinburgh Northern
New seat has become scene of fierce contest
Edinburgh's growing population has prompted the creation of a brand new seat in the city as part of the major boundary changes for this election.
Edinburgh Northern brings together parts of three previous constituencies and stretches from Davidson's Mains to Bonnington and from Granton to Dean Village. And it has immediately become one of the most fiercely contested seats in the city.
The new seat incorporates parts of Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton’s former Edinburgh Western seat along with parts of the old SNP-held Edinburgh Northern and Leith and a small bit from Edinburgh Central.
Analysts have labelled it notionally an SNP seat, saying the Nationalists would have won it on the basis of the voting patterns at the last Holyrood election in 2021. But the Lib Dems have made the constituency their top target and quote figures from the last council elections in 2022, saying the Lib Dems won the area covered by the new seat by 29.3 per cent to the SNP’s 25 per cent.
Lib Dem candidate Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, a councillor for Forth ward in the constituency, says: "We are feeling very optimistic but it's going to be very close between us and the SNP.
"People are telling us they want change - and they want a change from the SNP. We are the clear challengers in Edinburgh Northern to the SNP.
“People are really disappointed in Labour and we're finding a lot of Labour voters lending us their vote this time round to beat the SNP.”
She says the party quotes the council election stats to show that people will vote for Lib Dems when they think they can win. "In council elections, which use a different system which is more proportional, people know if they vote for a Liberal Democrat they will get a Liberal Democrat. What we're trying to show is there is a lot of support for us if people think we can win and beat the SNP."
But she insists: “It's not just campaigning against another party, it’s very much campaigning on issues people care about and we care about.
“Something that comes up on the doorstep a lot is access to healthcare, access to GPs - and that is a core aspect of our manifesto, getting more staff into GP practices, medical staff of all kinds, to make sure people can get the care they need.”
She also mentions the controversy over plans to use the Roseburn Path for the proposed new North-South tram route. “It affects quite a big part of the constituency because it's a path that connects other paths across the constituency. We have always been very clear at council level: we don't want to see a tram on the Roseburn Path because we think it is too important a green space, as well as a route for people who walk, wheel and cycle, to lose.
“As a councillor, and living in the community, my approach has been to listen to people and get stuff done for them - and that’s the kind of MSP I would be for people.”
The SNP's candidate Euan Hyslop is a councillor for Drum Brae/Gyle, but lives and has a business in the constituency. He announced early in the campaign that the SNP opposed both the Roseburn Path and the alternative Orchard Brae routes for the new tramline.
He says his campaign is going well. “It’s looking really positive.” And he is sceptical about whether the Lib Dems can persuade enough supporters of other parties to vote for them.
Part of the constituency lies in the Westminster seat which Labour’s Tracy Gilbert won from the SNP at the general election two years ago with an 18 per cent swing, giving her a majority of over 7,000.
Mr Hyslop says despite Keir Starmer’s unpopularity, he is finding quite a lot of Labour voters planning to stick with the party. “The Lib Dems are trying to present this as a two-horse race between us and them. There are a lot of disillusioned Labour voters, but they're coming down from a very significant high with Tracy Gilbert's result in 2024. Because of how sticky we're finding the Labour voter, it makes it all to play for.“
He says other former Labour voters are switching to the SNP. “So it’s not a foregone conclusion that they're all rallying behind a unionist vote. but rather looking for the candidate and the party that offers most for North Edinburgh and working class communities.”
He says it’s too difficult to predict the winner. “I think it could be any one of the three parties - Labour, the Lib Dems or ourselves.”
And he claims there is another phenomenon which he thinks could be significant. “In the western parts of the constituency, which have come in from Alex Cole-Hamilton’s seat, there are lots of Lib Dem voters whose second preference is SNP and SNP voters whose second preference is Lib Dem. “
He says SNP supporters often vote Lib Dem in local elections, but SNP in national elections, which he argues calls into question the use of council election data to project the outcome of this election.
And Labour candidate Eleanor Ryan-Saha, a primary school teacher who now works for a child disability charity, is also unimpressed by the Lib Dems’ claims. She says Labour is also in contention for the seat and accuses the Lib Dems of telling people how to vote.
“If you want to vote tactically, then absolutely use the data available. But throughout this campaign the Lib Dems have peppered the constituency with leaflets that include data which is from the 2022 council elections and telling voters on that basis they have to vote Lib Dem. The data isn't strong enough, it is not appropriate and the approach is not respectful.
“Why use 2022 data when there is 2024 data available? The 2024 data is for a parliamentary election, not a local council election, and it shows very clearly that 70 per cent of the new Edinburgh Northern seat voted in the majority for Labour.”
She talks about the need to improve education, especially for those in deprived areas. “I'm the product of a Labour government: I had the opportunity to go to a great state school, then I was supported through scholarships and bursaries all the way to being the only one from my school going to Cambridge, then I was supported all the way to PhD.
“Whether it's a PhD, a college place or an apprenticeship, kids in Edinburgh Northern deserve a brilliant start in life. Folk used to feel confident that’s what they would receive from Scottish schools. But right now - especially if your child has any level of additional support needs or you come from poverty - it's not happening, and it's not good enough.
“I've got a disabled child myself. I’ve got first hand experience of the NHS and professionals delivering amazing services, but within a context that has been stripped back to the bone.”
And she says too often people in poorer areas are ignored. “I stay in Granton. I walk down my own street where I see mattresses flytipped. I’ve been campaigning really hard in West Pilton and Muirhouse - it's a state and people are saying they're not feeling safe and they're feeling ignored - and they have been ignored.”
Green candidate Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill says Granton and Pilton are among the most deprived areas of the city and people are struggling with the cost of living. She is highlighting Green policies like free bus travel for everyone, extending childcare and expanding free school meals.
And she defends the Greens’ decision to stand, despite the potential for splitting the pro-independence vote. She says: “We may not be in the two-horse race, but we’re the ones bringing the more positive grassroots alternative. We can and do work well with the SNP and we do have a lot of policies in common, but we have some not in common as well. So it’s about giving folk that opportunity to choose us.”
Tory candidate Christopher Cowdy says potholes are the top issue on the doorsteps. “It’s a council responsibility, but councils get most of their funding from the Scottish Government and Edinburgh is the worst funded council in Scotland per capita. The Conservatives would increase funding to councils and I would campaign for better funding for Edinburgh and if we can get more money, hopefully we can prioritise the basics, such as potholes.”
Reform’s candidate is Canadian Andrew McLaughlin, who works in an Edinburgh primary school and is the Unison shopsteward there. He says there should be zero tolerance of violence in schools, wants more nuclear and hydro power and says Scots don’t realise how high taxes are, compared with other countries.
Abu Meron is standing for George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain. He was born in Bangladesh, has lived in Edinburgh for 21 years, runs his own business and is a member of Liberton and district community council.
Candidates
COWDY, Christopher - Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
DIJKSTRA-DOWNIE, Sanne - Scottish Liberal Democrats p
HYSLOP, Euan - Scottish National Party (SNP)
KINROSS-O’NEILL, Kayleigh Ferguson - Scottish Green Party
MCLAUGHLIN, Andrew - Reform UK
MERON, Abu - Scottish Workers Party of Britain
RYAN-SAHA, Eleanor - Scottish Labour Party
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