Home News Council by-elections – Portobello/ Craigmillar – Jim Wyke

Council by-elections – Portobello/ Craigmillar – Jim Wyke

August 20, 2026 7:06 am

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Jim Wyke is the Scottish Labour candidate in Portobello/Craigmillar Ward at the by election on 3 September.

He has lived in Edinburgh for 25 of his 32 years, was born in Musselburgh, and attended Portobello High School.

He has now lived in Portobello for about three and a half years and feels he owes the city, and that this is his “opportunity to give back”, to improve the community and make the area even better.

His main focus during the by-election campaign has been on appealing to people that what is needed is “a councillor who is as deeply invested in the local community and can represent people’s needs”. He said (referring to the SNP whose councillor resigned after election to Holyrood, sparking this by-election): “I think people might appreciate having a councillor who is perhaps less focused on constitutional issues, or powers beyond the remit of the council, less focused on that than they are on the residents of the area.”

He believes the Labour run administration has a good record on housing and has done “a lot of good on repairing the roads”. He also said that the council is starting some good work on “public safety and addressing some of the anti-social behaviour problems”. He is mindful that his election would only last until the council elections next May and he feels that “by listening to people’s concerns, tailoring it to what people need and building on that good work” he can make a difference.

Jim works from home for a children’s rights charity, advocating for the rights and well-being of children. He also worked in the past for the UK Government in marine conservation which is another of his passions. He said: “I’m particularly concerned about is the level of pollution on the beach, and what the Scottish Government and what SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) aren’t telling local residents. I think it is really undemocratic and really shocking that people aren’t hearing about some of the issues with pollution that they should be.”

Another matter on which he has a view is the matter of rent controls where he believes that the new legislation being introduced is “a great step forward”.

He said that he is already dealing with some casework where landlords are “jacking up the rents while they can before the legislation is brought in”. He would like to see some action fro the Scottish Government and the City of Edinburgh Council in pushing the Scottish Government to introduce some interim legislation. He said: “People are being affected by this now. The rent control legislation is a great step forward – and the SNP resisted it.

He said: “I think we need interim emergency legislation because I’m speaking to people who are being affected, even in Portobello and Craigmillar, by massive rent increases while landlords are trying to do this now. So, so that’s something I’d like to see.”

He would also like stricter controls on AirBnBs and short term lets which are “hollowing out a lot of communities” and more needs to be done on that in his view.

But the fact that Edinburgh Council is spending £1.6 billion on housing is only a plus point He said he would like to see more of this being spent on building new council housing in the next five years as “much more needs to be done, because this is really impacting people, and it’s a real crisis in Edinburgh.”

Mental Health advocate

He also has a background in primary healthcare research looking at building communities through Glasgow University – particularly to improve men’s health between the ages of 30 to 55. He said he likes to build communities particularly through football.

He was part of The Scottish Professional Football League Trust (SPFL) backed programme called Football Fans in Training which is al about getting football fans into clubs to use the fitness facilities there. It has an incidental focus on building healthier lifestyles but Jim explained its main focus is on building community and building mental health through that.

He believes that his recent work in developing Westminster policy and “advocating on behalf of children who often come from quite deprived, quite difficult backgrounds” will be important to his election prospects. He said that his work involves a lot of listening and he hopes to bring the same qualities to working as a councillor: “If I can do the same thing of listening and hearing what people’s concerns are and hearing what people’s needs are and the things that they’re struggling with and taking that directly to the people in power, well, hopefully that’s what a good councillor does.”

With some new impetus in the Labour movement after the election of Andy Burnham as Prime Minister, Jim said that there is no doubt some of that filters down to local politics. But he said that it is more important to have “a local representative who you can put a face to, whose email address you have and who you can contact – and you know they will listen”.

He said: “One of the things I’ve been saying in the campaign to people is that I might not always agree with you, but I promise you that I will always tell the truth. You will always be able to contact me, and I’ll be honest with you when we do disagree. And I think that’s something that actually people feel has been missing from politics, missing from politicians, and so that’s part of my offer.”