[2] The seat covers small towns to the east of Edinburgh including Haddington and Dunbar which have good commuting links to the capital city; and a more rural area extending south into the Lammermuir Hills.

Until the SNP landslide victory in 2015, the seat had been continuously represented by MPs from the Labour Party since the constituency's creation 32 years earlier.

The East Lothian Constituency Labour Party voted on 22 January 2010 to deselect the previous MP Anne Moffat.

Two years later, at the 2019 general election, Whitfield was in turn defeated by former Scottish National Party MSP and Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.

In February 2023, Douglas Alexander, a former cabinet minister and MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South/Paisley South, was selected to stand for the Labour Party.