Politics
The county of Midlothian is an ancient one and lies just south-east of the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh – in fact, it used to be known as Edinburghshire. The constituency boundaries do not match those of the county but they will after the next general election and that change – it’s called “co-terminus” – means that Penicuik will leave Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale and become part of Midlothian and will become one of the constituency’s main towns along with Dalkeith, Bonnyrigg, Gorebridge and Loanhead.
This seat has been held by Labour since 1955. Fittingly for a seat where the main industry used to be coal mining. Previous MPs Eric Clarke (1992—2001) and Alex Eadie (1966-1992) were former miners.
Midlothian Council has 18 Midlothian Councillors, 14 Labour, 3 Liberal and 1 SNP.
The council has responsibility for the maintenance of 240 bridges, 637 km of rural and urban carriageways and a similar length of footway. And it is also responsible for maintaining over 16,000 street lighting units including traffic signs and illuminated bollards, 47 sets of traffic signals and town centre CCTV systems.
