Reading West (UK Parliament constituency)

Reading West
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Reading West in Berkshire.
Location of Berkshire within England.
County	Berkshire
Electorate	73,216 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Reading
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Alok Sharma (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Reading North and Reading South
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

Reading West is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like all such constituencies, it elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The constituency covers an area in and around the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire.

Boundaries

The constituency comprises the western part of the Borough of Reading (specifically the wards of Battle, Kentwood, Minster, Norcot, Southcote, Tilehurst and Whitley) together with the parishes of Holybrook, Pangbourne, Purley-on-Thames, Tidmarsh with Sulham, Theale and Tilehurst in West Berkshire District. It is bounded by the constituencies of Newbury, Henley, Reading East, and Wokingham.

History

The Reading West parliamentary constituency was first contested in 1983, when it was won for the Conservative Party by Tony Durant, the sitting MP for the previous Reading North constituency. He held the seat through all subsequent general elections until he retired before the 1997 election.

The constituency was then won for the Labour Party by Martin Salter, as part of the landslide that brought Labour back to power under Tony Blair. Salter held the seat through two subsequent general elections until Parliament was dissolved in April 2010, but did not stand in the 2010 general election, when Alok Sharma won the seat for the Conservatives.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Tony Durant	Conservative
	1997	Martin Salter	Labour
	2010	Alok Sharma	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Reading West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alok Sharma	20,523	43.2	9.6
	Labour	Naz Sarkar	14,519	30.5	-14.5
	Liberal Democrat	Daisy Benson	9,546	20.1	4.3
	UKIP	Bruce Hay	1,508	3.2	0.4
	Common Sense Party	Howard Thomas	852	1.8	1.8
	Green	Adrian Windisch	582	1.2	-1
Majority			6,004	12.6
Turnout			47,530	65.9	+6.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	12.1
Source Reading Borough Council, BBC

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Reading West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Martin Salter	18,940	44.9	-8.0
	Conservative	Ewan Cameron	14,258	33.8	+1.8
	Liberal Democrat	Denise Gaines	6,663	15.8	+3.0
	UKIP	Peter Williams	1,180	2.8	+0.8
	Green	Adrian Windisch	921	2.2	N/A
	Veritas	Dave Boyle	267	0.6	N/A
Majority			4,672	11.1
Turnout			42,229	61.0	+1.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.0
Source Electoral Commission

General Election 2001: Reading West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Martin Salter	22,300	53.1	+8.0
	Conservative	Stephen Reid	13,451	32.0	-6.9
	Liberal Democrat	Polly Martin	5,387	12.8	+0.1
	UKIP	David Black	848	2.0	+1.5
Majority			8,849	21.1
Turnout			41,986	59.1	-11.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.5
Source Guardian Unlimited, ONS[citation needed]

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Reading West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Martin Salter	21,841	45.1	+17.3
	Conservative	Nicholas Bennett	18,844	38.9	-14.0
	Liberal Democrat	Dee Tomlin	6,153	12.7	-5.4
	Referendum Party	Steven G Brown	976	2.0	N/A
	BNP	Ian Dell	320	0.7	N/A
	UKIP	D M Black	255	0.5	N/A
Majority			2,997	6.2
Turnout			48,389	70.1	-7.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	-15.7
Source Guardian Unlimited

General Election 1992: Reading West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Tony Durant	28,048	52.9	−2.4
	Labour	PM Ruhemann	14,750	27.8	+6.6
	Liberal Democrat	KH Lock	9,572	18.1	−4.3
	Green	PJ Unsworth	613	1.2	+0.1
Majority			13,298	25.1	−7.8
Turnout			52,983	78.0	+5.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.5

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Berkshire