Editing West Lothian (section)

==Government and politics==
===Council===
[[West Lothian Council]] is the [[Local government in Scotland|local authority]] for the West Lothian area and has 33 elected members. [[Councillors]] are generally elected every five years, with the next election falling in Spring 2027.

The current council composition is:

{|class="wikitable"
|-
|width="5"|
| style="width:140px;"|'''Party'''
| style="width:180px;"|'''Councillors'''
|-
|style="color:inherit;background:{{party color|Scottish National Party}}"|
|[[Scottish National Party]]
|15
|-
|style="color:inherit;background:{{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}"|
|[[Scottish Labour Party|Labour]]
|11
|-
|style="color:inherit;background:{{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}"|
|[[Scottish Conservative Party|Conservative]] 
|4
|-
|
|[[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]]
|1
|-
| style="color:inherit;background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}}" |
|[[Independent (politician)|Independent]]
|2
|}
[[File:Livingston Civic Centre from the west - geograph.org.uk - 1627821.jpg|thumb|[[West Lothian Civic Centre]]]]
Following the abolition of West Lothian County Council in 1975, the new West Lothian District Council chose to use the former Burgh Chambers of [[Bathgate]] Town Council (built in 1966) as its headquarters, extending the building in 1976 and renaming it Lindsay House.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chambers par excellence: Bathgate's fine new image |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=26 December 2022 |work=West Lothian Courier |date=18 February 1966 |location=Bathgate |page=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bathgate, South Bridge Street, Lindsay House, District Council Office |url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/217854/bathgate-south-bridge-street-lindsay-house-district-council-office |website=Canmore |publisher=Historic Environment Scotland |access-date=26 December 2022}}</ref> The district council retained the [[County Buildings, Linlithgow|county buildings]] in [[Linlithgow]] as additional office space.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=19773|page=1457|date=14 November 1975|city=e}}</ref> In November 2009, the new [[unitary authority]], West Lothian Council, centralised its services at the new [[West Lothian Civic Centre]] in [[Livingston, West Lothian|Livingston]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8378976.stm  |title=Alex Salmond unveils £50m Livingston civic centre|date=25 November 2009|newspaper=BBC| access-date=21 September 2021}}</ref>

===Parliamentary representation===
West Lothian is represented in the [[Scottish Parliament]] by two constituency members and seven regional members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).<ref name=MSP>{{cite news |url=https://www.parliament.scot/PublicInformationdocuments/YMSP_Lothian_Eng.pdf |title=Your MSPs - Lothian |publisher=The Scottish Parliament |date=29 December 2020 |access-date=29 December 2020 |archive-date=19 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319065642/https://www.parliament.scot/PublicInformationdocuments/YMSP_Lothian_Eng.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] West Lothian is represented by two members of Parliament. [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) [[Gregor Poynton]] represents the [[Livingston (UK Parliament constituency)|Livingston constituency]].<ref name="2024Election">{{cite web |url=https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/article/82669/General-Election-Results-2024/ |title=General Election Results 2024 |publisher=West Lothian Council |access-date=8 July 2024}}</ref> [[Kirsteen Sullivan]] represents the [[Bathgate and Linlithgow (UK Parliament constituency)]]<ref name="2024Election"/> Until 2024, the area included the [[Linlithgow and East Falkirk (UK Parliament constituency)]].

The [[West Lothian question]], referring to whether Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish MPs should be allowed to vote on English laws, is so named because it was supposedly first raised by [[Tam Dalyell]] while he was MP for West Lothian.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-29281818 |title=Scottish referendum: What is the 'English Question'?|work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=19 September 2014 |access-date=26 April 2015}}</ref><ref name=Econ14>{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21620194-scotlands-place-united-kingdom-settled-time-deal-its-much-larger-neighbour-now |title=Now for the English question |newspaper=The Economist |date=27 September 2014 }}</ref>