'Women only' call to Labour
Activists believe the decision by Edinburgh East MP Gavin Strang to retire at the next election opens the door for a female candidate.
However, it is thought that the constituency's local executive is asking Labour's ruling NEC to look elsewhere in its bid to ensure half the party's MPs are women.
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Hide AdA women-only shortlist is currently being used in Airdrie and Shotts, where former home secretary John Reid is standing down.
In Edinburgh, women activists are pressing their case, circulating a document showing that only one of the 18 Labour MPs in the capital since 1918 has been a woman – Lynda Clark, who represented Edinburgh Pentlands between 1997 and 2005.
Patsy King, who compiled the list, said: "It makes quite shocking reading. We talk about equality and things like that, that there is no 'glass ceiling', but when you look at that research, it kind of hits home."