Edinburgh - Governance

Governance

Following local government reorganisation in 1996, Edinburgh constitutes one of the 32 Unitary Authorities of Scotland. Today, the City of Edinburgh Council is the administrative body for the local authority and has its powers stipulated by the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994. Like all other unitary and island authorities in Scotland, the council has powers over most matters of local administration such as housing, planning, local transport, parks, economic development and regeneration. The council is composed of 58 elected councillors, returned from 17 multi-member electoral wards in the city. Each ward elects three or four councillors by the single transferable vote system, to produce a form of proportional representation. Following the 2007 Scottish Local Elections the incumbent Labour Party lost majority control of the council, after 23 years, to a Liberal Democrat/SNP coalition.

Since 2007, the council has operated a committee structure, headed by the Lord Provost, who chairs the full council and acts as a figurehead for the city. The Provost, currently Donald Wilson, also serves as ex officio the Lord Lieutenant of the city. A Leader and Policy & Strategy Committee, appointed by the full council, are responsible for the day-to-day running of the city administration. Jenny Dawe was the Council Leader since May 2007, however she lost her seat in the elections in May 2012, with Andrew Burns now the Council leader, after Labour and SNP formed a coalition administration. Councillors are also appointed to sit on the boards of public bodies such as Lothian and Borders Police and the Forth Estuary Transport Authority.

Edinburgh is represented in the Scottish Parliament. For electoral purposes, the city area is divided between six of the nine constituencies in the Lothians electoral region. Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system of election, and the region elects seven additional MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation.

Edinburgh is also represented in the British House of Commons by five Members of Parliament elected from single member constituencies by the first past the post system.