Edinburgh East and Musselburgh stretches from eastern Edinburgh into East Lothian. It includes neighbourhoods on the east side of the capital and extends to Musselburgh, a distinct coastal town on the Firth of Forth. The constituency is predominantly urban and suburban, but its character changes from dense city neighbourhoods to lower-density communities and open land around the city boundary. Musselburgh provides a separate town centre with strong links to both Edinburgh and the wider East Lothian coast. Major road and rail routes run east–west through the seat, while the shoreline and surrounding hills help define its geography. The constituency therefore crosses a local-authority boundary while following a continuous urban corridor.
Election data comes from UK Parliament. Turnout percentage is calculated by Project Open Gov from Parliament's turnout and electorate figures.
People and place
A population and household snapshot for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, using validated House of Commons Library constituency datasets.
Estimated population116,581
EstimateMid-2022 estimate
Region / nationScotland
Age profile
0 to 1713.6% · 15,858 people
18 to 2417.3% · 20,197 people
25 to 3419.0% · 22,130 people
35 to 4919.5% · 22,681 people
50 to 6416.2% · 18,910 people
65 and over14.4% · 16,805 people
Population figures are mid-2024 estimates from the House of Commons Library. Project Open Gov calculates the estimated population shown above by summing the six published age-band counts. View population source ↗
Home ownership and renting
Housing tenure shows how households in this constituency described their home at the most recent census.
53,227 householdsCensus 2022
Home owners53.2% · 28,317 households
Private renters24.9% · 13,276 households
Social renters20.2% · 10,771 households
Other tenure1.6% · 863 households
“Other tenure” combines shared ownership and households recorded as living rent free.
Housing-tenure figures come from the most recent census: 2021 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2022 in Scotland. View housing-tenure source ↗
Household composition
A broad view of household types in this constituency. Project Open Gov uses the four broad groups supplied by the Commons Library so the presentation remains consistent across the UK.
53,225 householdsCensus 2022
One-person households42.5% · 22,631 households
Families with dependent children18.3% · 9,742 households
Other single-family households30.0% · 15,947 households
Other household types9.2% · 4,905 households
Household-composition figures come from the Commons Library constituency dataset. The source uses census data and Project Open Gov displays its broad household groups rather than attempting to harmonise the detailed categories itself. View household-composition source ↗
Disability and day-to-day activities
The source records whether day-to-day activities are limited and uses separate person-level tables for England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
113,742 people in the source baseCensus 2022Source comparison: Scotland
Day-to-day activities limited a lot8.6% · 9,785 people
Day-to-day activities limited a little12.8% · 14,519 people
Non-disabled78.6% · 89,438 people
Comparison note: the workbook uses different source terminology across the UK: England & Wales uses “Disabled under the Equality Act”, while Scotland and Northern Ireland use “Disabled” / “Non-disabled”. Project Open Gov therefore preserves the source categories and does not present them as one single like-for-like UK legal definition.
Disability figures come from the Commons Library constituency workbook. This profile uses the person-level tables only; the workbook also contains separate household-level disability tables which are not used here. View disability source ↗
Petitions
Open UK Government and Parliament petitions that have reached at least 10,000 signatures nationally, ranked here by the number of signatures recorded in this constituency.
Petition signatures are not a poll and do not show what the constituency as a whole thinks. A person can also sign more than one petition.
Open petitionCloses 19 December 2026
Review and refund overcharged UK Student and Child Student visa fees
Signature counts come from the official UK Government and Parliament petitions data and may change while a petition remains open. Browse official petitions ↗
Funding and local projects
National Lottery grants awarded to organisations recorded in this parliamentary constituency since 4 July 2024.
The constituency is based on the recipient organisation recorded in the source data. The funded activity may sometimes take place across a wider area.
Grants recorded256
Total awarded£14,443,487
Most recent awards
National Lottery grantAwarded 24 June 2026
Inside David Lynch's Hair
Grant to Individual
£13,680
Creative Scotland · Arts
About this award
Inside David Lynch’s Hair is a collection of 78 microfictions (one for each year of his life) all based in the landscape of the late filmmaker, David Lynch’s hair. Different aspects of his films mingle into surreal narratives designed to delight in celebration of this great director. The outpouring of love for Lynch after he died shows his far-reaching appeal &—with him being a surrealist film maker—his hair is the perfect subject/theme for my surrealist creative practice. Following on from my most successful surreal narrative publication to date, Some Deer, with its Gutter Book of the Month, Poetry Book Society Recommendation & in-depth, essay-length review in 3am magazine, I now am leaning more into fiction rather than poetry for this significant project to reach a broader, more diverse audience. This project will establish me fully as the “surrealist extraordinaire” that Gutter Magazine named me, as my project of devotion to Lynch takes both reader & writer to uncharted territory.
National Lottery grantAwarded 24 June 2026
Craigmillar Now: A Worldwide Web
Craigmillar Now
£92,961
The National Lottery Heritage Fund · Heritage
About this award
Craigmillar Now will employ a Digital Heritage Coordinator and freelance digital specialists to work alongside and train their volunteer heritage team to create a digital database for the Craigmillar Now archive. By the end of the project the catalogue and 10,000 objects in the organisation’s care will be available to view online for the very first time. A further 15,000 objects will be digitised. The project will expand the range of skills participants on Craigmillar Now’s innovative, heritage-led adult education programme can gain, and widen access to the collections in Craigmillar Now’s care. The legacy of this project will be that Craigmillar’s history is more secure, accessible and better known, and the local caretakers of this heritage have the skills to manage and maintain the database long-term.
National Lottery grantAwarded 4 June 2026
Cauvin House - a nurturing home for young parents and their babies.
Governors of Dean Orphanage & Cauvins Trust
£14,320
The National Lottery Community Fund · Charitable and Community including Health, Education and Environment
About this award
This group will use funding over one year to make improvements to Cauvin House a specialist residential house in east Edinburgh for young parents and their babies.
National Lottery grantAwarded 4 June 2026
Dance Base - Dance for Parkinson's
Dance Base Ltd
£9,754
The National Lottery Community Fund · Charitable and Community including Health, Education and Environment
About this award
The organisation will use the funding to deliver a weekly dance programme for people living with Parkinson’s Disease and their carers in Edinburgh over the next 12 months.
National Lottery grantAwarded 3 June 2026
young women care about art
ProjectChange
£99,512
Creative Scotland · Arts
About this award
Young Women Care About Art is a year-long creative development programme for four emerging women artists with experience of care. Participants will create new work in response to handwritten letters from women in care during the 20th century, held in the Birthlink archive - exploring identity, belonging and intergenerational connection through their own artistic approaches. The programme is led by Adam (CEO) and Rachael (Development Officer) from ProjectChange, with creative mentoring coordinated by Head of Development at Impact Arts, who will match each participant with an experienced artist aligned to their style and interests. Elena Soper from the Young Women’s Movement provides pastoral and recruitment support. Birthlink provides archive access and guidance. Participants take part in regular group sessions, individual mentoring, and supported independent creative time. The programme culminates in a publicly accessible exhibition or creative experience, co-designed by the artists and supported by professional production input.
251 more awards are available.
Source: DCMS National Lottery Grants Database. The figures shown cover awards from 4 July 2024 to 1 July 2026. View official grants data ↗
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