Southside/Newington
City of Edinburgh Council ward covering the Southside and Newington areas.
Southside/Newington returned a Scottish Labour councillor, Ruth Elliott, at a City of Edinburgh Council by-election on 3 September 2026, a seat The Scotsman counted as a gain from the SNP.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026
Timeline for Southside/Newington
Mentioned in: Marra's MSPs vote for right to decide
UK Local Elections 2026Background
Southside/Newington is a ward of City of Edinburgh Council covering the Southside and Newington districts south of the city centre. Like all Scottish council wards, it elects members by the single transferable vote.
A vacancy opened in 2026 when the sitting councillor, Simita Kumar, was elected to the Scottish Parliament and became a minister. The by-election that followed in September returned Scottish Labour's Ruth Elliott.
Edinburgh voters filled two council vacancies that night. The other, Portobello/Craigmillar, went to the Scottish Greens, and both results were reported as losses for the SNP, which made the capital an early test of the parties' standing after the May 2026 Holyrood election.
The ward elects a Labour councillor
Elliott polled 2,153 first preferences on 3 September 2026, with the Scottish Greens second on 1,978 and the SNP third on 757. Turnout was 27.3%, and the council announced the result the following day.
The Scotsman reported the seat as taken from the SNP, though the council's declaration does not name the previous holder's party. Within three weeks Scottish Labour had elected Michael Marra as leader, and the ward's result became one of the early readings for a party competing with both the SNP and The Greens in central Edinburgh.