Candidates and Constituency Assessments

'People must judge me on what I do on the job.' Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on BBC Radio Four's Today programme, July 2006

Edinburgh Central (Lothians Region)

Candidates

	Sarah Boyack MSP (Not standing on Lothians list)
	Labour
	Sarah Boyack was born on the 16 th May 1961 and educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh, the University of Glasgow where she graduated with an MA(Hons) in Modern History and Politics and Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh where she obtained a Diploma in Town and Country Planning. She worked as a Planning Assistant in the London Borough of Brent from 1986 until 1988 and then as a Senior Planning Officer with Central Regional Council in Stirling until 1992. From then until her election in 1999, she was a Lecturer in Planning at the School of Planning at Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot-Watt University. She is a membr of the EIS/University Lecturers Association. She was Minister for Transport & the Environment in the Dewar administration, while McLeish kept her in the Executive, but gave her Environment brief to Sam Galbraith. She was sacked by Jack McConnell and has been on the back benches since November 2001. Before being elected she was for several years co-ordinator for Labour's environmental policy in Scotland and is currently also a member of Labour's Scottish Policy forum. In the parliament she is Convener of the Environment and Rural Development Committee and Co-Convener of the Scottish Parliament Renewable Energy Group. Committee Convenorships May 2003 - Convener of the Environment and Rural Development Committee Ministerial positions May 1999 - October 2000 - Minister for Transport & the Environment October 2000 - November 2001- Minister for Transport & Planning Recent electoral experience 2003 Scottish parliament election, 9,066 votes (32.36 %) (elected) 1999 Scottish parliament election, 14,224 votes (38.02 %) (elected)
	Fiona Houston (Also number 5 on Lothians list)
	Conservative & Unionist
	The Tories had selected Sir James (Jamie) William Stuart Whitemore Sempill, 21 st Lord Sempill but he stepped down with less than two months to go to the election upon his appointment as Director of the International Gathering of the Clans - a major international cultural event scheduled for Edinburgh in 2009. On the 8 th of February 2006, Lord Sempill said the Scottish Tories were not considered relevant and he criticised the party's MSPs for their "slightly lacklustre" image. The new Conservative candidate is Fiona Houston, who was originally selected to contest Livingston. Born in Dumfries, Scotland, Fiona Houston's career has successfully combined the demands of journalism and business, raising a family, and involvement in local issues, both in Scotland and in America. Currently Fiona works for the Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100, the company sponsored by Richard Branson to track and promote Britain's top-performing private businesses. She also writes a column for Weekend Telegraph and is working on a book about food and the environment. Fiona returned to Scotland with her family three years ago from Washington DC, USA where she lived for 12 years. Having made the momentous decision to return to Scotland, Fiona feels very strongly about being involved in the political process to make Scotland a better place. While in Washington DC, she was immersed in the political culture, and learnt more than a thing or two about politics and campaigning. She reported on it as a journalist, and her husband worked as legislative director and Committee Counsel for the US Congress. She worked for the New York Times, the Scotsman, and also wrote for the Washington Post and was nominated for the US National Magazine Award by Men's Health magazine for a feature article on education. Most recently, as Chairman of Friends of Inverleith Park in Edinburgh, she established and ran a major grassroots campaign that overcame the odds to defeat Edinburgh City Council in its bid to develop one of Edinburgh's best-loved green spaces in Inverleith Park into an enormous concrete skateboard facility against the wishes of the local community. With this success under her belt, she now plans to channel the same energy and skill into ensuring that the public's voice is heard loudly and clearly in Edinburgh Central. Recent electoral experience.
	Siobhan Mathers (Not standing on Lothians list)
	Liberal Democrat
	Siobhan Mathers was born in Edinburgh on 5th July 1969. She attended Alness Academy in the Highlands and studied Politics at the University of Edinburgh before moving to Belgium. She held a number of policy positions in Brussels working mainly on agriculture and transport policy. While in Belgium, Siobhan also completed a post-graduate degree in Politics and Administration at the College of Europe in Bruges. From 1998 till 2000, Siobhan worked in London as an Advisor at the BSE Inquiry. She returned to Edinburgh in 2001 as Director of Public Policy at the law firm McGrigors. In 2005, she graduated again from the University of Edinburgh, this time with an MBA. She has worked as Public Policy Advisor to the Low Carbon Initiative and Communications Director at Wind Energy Ltd. Siobhan has been involved with the Scottish Liberal Democrats for a number of years. She stood in Hamilton North & Bellshill in 2003 and, in 2006, took a campaigns position in the Party's Head Office. She and her husband, Charles Dundas, a candidate for the Scottish Liberal Democrats on the Lothians' list, are expecting their first child in July. Siobhan believes people in Edinburgh want to see bold action on the environment, on education, on health and on affordable housing and say's that these will be her main policy priorities if she's elected. Recent electoral experience 2003 Scottish Parliament election, Hamilton North & Bellshill, 1,477 votes (6.10 %)
	Shirley-Anne Somerville (Also number 6 on Lothians list)
	Scottish National Party
	Shirley-Anne Somerville was born in Kirkcaldy in 1974. She trained to become a Housing Officer at Stirling University and working briefly for Fife Council. After the opening of the Scottish Parliament, she worked for the SNP in Parliament before becoming Policy and Public Affairs Officer for the Chartered Institute of Housing. She currently works for the Royal College of Nursing as Media and Campaigns Officer. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband, Myles. Shirley-Anne joined the SNP when she was 16 and was the SNP candidate for the Kirkcaldy constituency in the 2001 Westminster elections. She was an election agent in Edinburgh Central and Edinburgh South West in the 2003 and 2005 elections respectively. She is a previous member of the SNP National Executive Committee and is currently Convener of Edinburgh Central SNP Branch. She explains why she believes in Independence: 'When we look around Europe we don't question Denmark's right to independence, we don't suggest to Norwegians that they might want to give up the right to govern themselves and we don't worry that the economy of Luxembourg is going to go bankrupt just because they have a population of less than half a million. To me Scottish independence is all about our nation having the confidence to take responsibility for its own future. When we look around Europe we don't question Denmark's right to independence, we don't suggest to Norwegians that they might want to give up the right to govern themselves and we don't worry that the economy of Luxembourg is going to go bankrupt just because they have a population of less than half a million. We even congratulate countries like the Czech Republic and Slovakia when they achieve their own independence. No-one would have dreamt of suggesting to them that they didn't have the right to do go their own way because they were too small or too stupid. Independence is normal. Countries have the right to make their own decisions and Scotland should be no different. I'm proud of my country and what we have achieved but we could do so much more if we were independent. All people living in Scotland and those who will move here to join us in the future can build a country which not only takes care of its own people but plays its full part on the world stage. There are currently 191 countries represented at the United Nations. Rather than having to explain why we should join them the real question is what is stopping us? Recent electoral experience 2001 Westminster election, Kirkcaldy, 6,264 votes (22.25 %)

Constituency profile

Assessment:

This assessment is based on the 2003 election results

Rank on Liberal Democrat hit list: 1 (6 in 2003)
Swing required for Liberal Democrat gain: 4.75 % from Labour to Liberal Democrat

Rank on Scottish National Party hit list: 15 (16 in 2003)
Swing required for Scottish National Party gain: 7.32 % from Labour to Scottish National Party

Rank on Conservative hit list: 11 (21 in 2003)
Swing required for Conservative gain: 7.61 % from Labour to Conservative

Correlation to the new Westminster constituencies

The electorate of 66,218 was split between the new Westminster constituencies of:
Edinburgh South West: 25,971 (39.2 %)
Edinburgh East: 19,726 (29.8 %)
Edinburgh West: 13,996 (19.6 %)
Edinburgh North & Leith: 7,525 (11.4 %)

Local Government wards in the constituency

Previous results

1 st May 2003 Holyrood Election - Constituency result

Electorate 60,824. Turnout 28,014, 46.06 % (- 10.67 %)
Logo	Party	Candidate	Votes	%	% change
	Labour	Sarah Boyack MSP	9,066	32.36 %	- 5.66 %
	Liberal Democrat	Andy Myles	6,400	22.85 %	+ 6.31 %
	Scottish National Party	Kevin Pringle	4,965	17.72 %	- 7.93 %
	Conservative & Unionist	Peter Finnie	4,802	17.14 %	+ 1.05 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	Catriona Grant	2,552	9.11 %	+ 6.89 %
	Scottish Peoples Alliance	James O'Neill	229	0.82 %	(+ 0.82 %)
	Labour hold	Labour majority	2,666	9.52 %	- 2.85 %

1 st May 2003 Holyrood Election - Regional list result

Electorate 60,824. Turnout 28,070, 46.15 % 168 rejected ballot papers
Logo	Party	Votes	%	% change
	Scottish Green Party	5,534	19.71 %	+ 7.59 %
	Labour	5,272	18.79 %	- 7.39 %
	Conservative & Unionist Party	4,328	15.42 %	- 1.22 %
	Scottish National Party	3,425	12.20 %	- 10.21 %
	Liberal Democrats	3,258	11.61 %	- 3.81 %
	Margo MacDonald MSP (Independent)	2,817	10.04 %	(+10.04 %)
	Scottish Socialist Party	2,022	7.20 %	+ 5.0 %
	Pensioners's Party	508	1.81 %	(+ 1.81 %)
	Liberal Party In Scotland	239	0.85 %
	Socialist Labour Party	178	0.63 %	- 1.97 %
	Adam Lyle's Witchery Tour Party	148	0.53 %
	UK Independence Party	103	0.37 %	(+ 0.37 %)
	Scottish Peoples Alliance	97	0.35 %	(+ 0.35 %)
	Pro-Life Party	82	0.29 %	- 0.02 %
	Mary Campbell (Independent)	38	0.14 %
	Alexander Scott (Independent)	10	0.04 %
	Peter Gatensbury (Independent)	9	0.03 %
	Green majority	260	0.93 %

6 th May 1999 Holyrood Election

Logo	Party	Candidate	Votes	%	% change
	Labour	Sarah Boyack	14,224	38.02 %	- 9.07 %
	Scottish National Party	Dr Ian McKee	9,598	25.65 %	+ 9.85 %
	Liberal Democrat	Andy Myles	6,187	16.54 %	+ 3.42 %
	Conservative & Unionist	Jacqui Low	6,018	16.09 %	- 5.10 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	Kevin Williamson	830	2.22 %	+ 2.22 %
	Independent Democrat	Brian Allingham	364	0.97 %	+ 0.97 %
	Braveheart	William Wallace	191	0.51 %	+ 0.51 %
	Labour win	Labour majority	4,626	12.37 %	- 13.53 %

6 th May 1999 Holyrood Election - Regional list vote result

Logo	Party	Votes	%
	Labour	9,795	26.18 %
	Scottish National Party	8,386	22.41 %
	Conservative & Unionist Party	6,227	16.64 %
	Liberal Democrats	5,769	15.42 %
	Scottish Green Party	4,537	12.12 %
	Socialist Labour Party	974	2.60 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	824	2.20 %
	ProLife Alliance	115	0.31 %
	Natural Law Party	93	0.25 %
	Others: Liberal Party Witchery Tour Party Civil Rights Movement Braveheart Socialist Party of Great Britain Independent Voice for Scottish Parliament Independent Independent Anti-Corruption, Mobile Home Scandal, Roads (No breakdown available)	699	1.87 %
	Labour majority	1,409	3.77 %

1 st May 1997 Westminster Election

Logo	Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Alastair Darling	20,125	47.09 %
	Conservative & Unionist	Mike Scott-Hayward	9,055	21.19 %
	Scottish National Party	Fiona Hyslop	6,750	15.80 %
	Liberal Democrat	Karen Utting	5,605	13.12 %
	Green	Linda Hendry	607	1.42 %
	Referendum	Austin Skinner	495	1.16 %
	Independent Democrat	Mark Benson	98	0.23 %
	Labour hold	Labour majority	11,070	25.90 %

Links

• Edinburgh & Lothians SNP
  
  
• Edinburgh Central SNP
  
  
• Sarah Boyack MP (Labour)
  
  
• Edinburgh Central Lib Dems
  
  
• Fiona Houston (Conservative)
  
  For more information on her campaign see: