It feels like it’s gone so quickly, but also a lot has happened – like Brexit, Covid, the war in Ukraine, and Trump’s election (x2)…

Closer to home, it’s fair to say Leith has changed in various ways in the last decade, maybe too much for some in a number of ways.

Whatever your view on the change we’ve experienced, what’s certainly true is our part of the world is increasingly attractive for people to move to, especially younger people. That is good news for many reasons, but it’s also created challenges. There is work to do to meet these challenges and, on your behalf, I continue to strive to address these, make a meaningful difference, and do what I can to help deliver positive progress.

I’ve always endeavoured to be a problem-solving, easily accessible type of politician and, most importantly, hardworking. I hope to continue to serve our area and get more done. Next year there will be a Scottish Parliament election and I’ve decided to seek re-election. Things will be slightly different as the constituency boundaries are changing from 2026.

Due to population growth in this part of Edinburgh, the Boundary Commission has decided to create two new constituencies out of my current constituency.

Edinburgh Northern and Leith becomes 1] Edinburgh North Eastern Leith and 2) Edinburgh Northern. I live in the first, and my Constitution Street office is here too, so I decided to seek re-election here and have been re-selected by my party to be a candidate again.

If re-elected, I’m excited about the possibility of working hard for another five years for our area and all of this new seat. Our part of the city is such a great place in many ways, with numerous remarkable independent businesses and hospitality venues, buoyant employment opportunities (especially at the port), a thriving creative and cultural scene, and a strong sense of community.

As you would expect, at the moment I continue to focus on a number of strands of work to support all this. For example, I’m currently working to try to achieve more investment into the Shore and support for the businesses there. The Leith Jazz & Blues Festival is a great event and helps to highlight the many brilliant bars, independent shops, restaurants and cafes there are around the area.

In recent months I have been working closely with some of our fantastic local businesses to help promote the area as a great destination to socialise, enjoy and explore, all year round. There are some really good ideas afoot to celebrate and promote the Shore to an even greater extent - watch this space! This will also compliment the exciting plans being taken forward for the Customs House and the ongoing work I’ve been leading to try to improve the Water of Leith basins.

One of the great things about being the MSP for our area is that I can bring people together in common cause. Recently, I hosted a successful roundtable event in Parliament to strengthen ties between businesses, educators and others, to ensure that our young people, and those looking to retrain, can access the many exciting career opportunities emerging here in Leith. There are thousands of renewable energy jobs in the making, as the re-industrialisation of the port moves forward in earnest.

In a similar way, I’m initiating a summit to bring the relevant authorities, local schools and youthwork organisations together to help tackle the issues we’ve unfortunately experienced over the last year with a very small minority of our young people engaging in some really serious and unacceptable behaviour. I will keep working hard on this issue until the situation improves.

Lastly, I know that one of the negative things that has happened over the last decade is that the cost of housing in our area has gone up too much. Addressing this remains a top priority for me. Recently I helped to secure new funding for more affordable homes to be built in Edinburgh and at the moment a Housing Bill is going through the Scottish Parliament that will introduce rent controls, which I support. I am also opposing any new student housing development proposals in Leith as, while students are of course welcome, we need to use any vacant land for affordable housing instead.

As always, there’s a lot more I could update on but contact me if you have any queries.

Enjoy Leith Festival!

Ben Macpherson is the MSP Edinburgh Northern and Leith