Dr Scott Arthur, MP for Edinburgh South West
Scott Arthur has been an MP since 2024. Currently: Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill; Transport Committee.
Roles and committees
Posts held in government or opposition, and committee seats, as Parliament records them.
Committees
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Rare Cancers Bill | 2025 | |
| Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill | 2025 to now | Now |
| Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill | 2025 | |
| Transport Committee | 2024 to now | Now |
Source: UK Parliament Members API · Parliament’s own page
Declared interests
MPs must publish certain paid work, gifts, donations and other interests. This is a record of what they declared, not a suggestion that anything is wrong.
Scott Arthur has 4 interests currently registered.
| Type | What was registered | Registered |
|---|---|---|
| Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources | East Coast Trains Ltd (Lumo) - £500.00 | 17 Jul 2026 |
| Miscellaneous | University and College Union Member (Heriot-Watt University Branch) | 23 Apr 2025 |
| Miscellaneous | I am currently on an unpaid career break from my position as Chair of Urban Water Management at Heriot-Watt University. | 2 Aug 2024 |
| Miscellaneous | Kirk Session Member (trustee) of Fairmilehead Parish Church (Church of Scotland), Frogston Road, Edinburgh. This is an unpaid role. | 2 Aug 2024 |
Source: Register of Members’ Financial Interests · Parliament’s own page
Questions
MPs can ask ministers questions in writing. The questions show what an MP is working on, which votes cannot.
Scott Arthur asked 342 written questions in the last 12 months.
Who they asked
Latest questions
Source: Written Questions API · Updated 4 Oct 2026
Expenses
MPs claim back money for running an office and working in two places. An independent body, IPSA, publishes every claim. This is what was paid in 2025-26.
110 claims. For comparison, across the 657 MPs in IPSA’s file the middle MP was paid £18,469 and the average was £19,699.
Source: IPSA, individual business costs data · About this data
Election result and area
Scott Arthur represents Edinburgh South West. Here is who won there at the last general election, and a few numbers about the area.
Labour
votes ahead of second place
of people who could vote did
Scott Arthur won with 41% of the votes, and Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party) came second with 27%.
Votes for each party
Every candidate
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Arthur | Labour | 18,663 | 40.9% |
| Joanna Cherry | Scottish National Party | 12,446 | 27.3% |
| Sue Webber | Conservative | 5,558 | 12.2% |
| Dan Heap | Scottish Green Party | 3,450 | 7.6% |
| Bruce Wilson | Liberal Democrat | 3,014 | 6.6% |
| Ian Harper | Reform UK | 2,087 | 4.6% |
| Richard Lucas | Scottish Family Party | 265 | 0.6% |
| Marc Wilkinson | Independent | 181 | 0.4% |
2024 General Election, on today’s boundaries. Source: House of Commons Library via the Members API.
Your area at a glance
Median gross weekly pay, 2025. Source: ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
Share of people aged 16 to 64, August 2026. Source: ONS and DWP claimant count.
How they vote
In the last 12 months Scott Arthur took part in 221 Commons votes.
More detail on how they vote
Scott Arthur voted the same way as their party in 219 of the 219 votes where parties gave instructions (100%), and went the other way in 0.
What does this mean?
Parties tell their MPs how to vote. Most MPs usually follow that. A high or low count says nothing on its own about whether an MP is good or bad, and we do not rank MPs by it. We only count votes where parties gave instructions, not free votes. How we count it
Recent votes
| Date | Vote | They voted | Compared with party |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Sep | End of life for terminally ill adults: the first main vote | Against | Free vote |
| 11 Sep | A vote to end a debate | Against | Free vote |
| 10 Sep | Social housing: an attempt to block it | Against | Same as party |
| 7 Sep | Health: a proposed change | Against | Same as party |
| 7 Sep | Health: a proposed change | Against | Same as party |
| 2 Sep | Voting and elections: the final vote | For | Same as party |
See every vote on Parliament’s site
Has this changed over time?
View data table
| Month | This MP | Party average |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 25 | 100% | 100% |
| Nov 25 | 100% | 100% |
| Dec 25 | 100% | 100% |
| Jan 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Feb 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Mar 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Apr 26 | 100% | 100% |
| May 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Jun 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Jul 26 | 100% | 99% |
| Sep 26 | 100% | 100% |
Source: Commons Votes API
This page states what the record shows. It does not say why an MP voted as they did. How we calculate this