Election results in West Edinburgh
West Edinburgh constituency is represented by Liberal Democrats at Westminster, in the Scottish Parliament and with nine councillors.
Having emerged as the main challangers to the Conservatives in the early 1980s, the Liberal Democrats ran the Conservatives a close second in three successive General Elections (1983, 1987 & 1992) and won the seat for the first time in 1997 (Donald Gorrie), going on to win the seat at the first Scottish Parliament elections in 1999 (Margaret Smith) and to hold the Westminster seat in 2001 (John Barrett). with both seats being held at the subsequent elections in 2003, 2005 and 2007. In 2010 Mike Crockart won the Westminster seat for the Liberal Democrats, John Barrett having stood down as the MP.
During this period, significant progress has also been made at local level, with the number of Liberal Democrat councillors in Edinburgh West rising to seven in the 1999 Edinburgh Council Elections.