Reading West
2015 Result:
Conservative: 23082 (47.7%)
Labour: 16432 (33.9%)
Lib Dem: 2355 (4.9%)
Green: 1406 (2.9%)
UKIP: 4826 (10%)
TUSC: 83 (0.2%)
Independent: 156 (0.3%)
Others: 64 (0.1%)
MAJORITY: 6650 (13.7%)
Category: Semi-marginal Conservative seat
Geography: South East, Berkshire. The western part of the Borough of Reading.
Main population centres: Reading, Theale, Pangbourne, Tidmarsh.
Profile: Reading is a commerical centre and commuter town in the Thames Valley in Berkshire. It is an affluent town, home to light, hi tech and service industry. It houses many corporate headquarters, including Microsoft, Oracle, British Gas and Prudential. Reading West is the less urban of the two Reading seats - while it includes several council estates such as those at Southcote and Whitley, it also stretches out to the West of Reading itself to take in more rural areas including Theale, Tidmarsh and Pangbourne, the site of Pangbourne College, formerly a Royal Naval College. The annual Reading Music Festival is held at Little John`s Farm at the North of the constituency. The seat also includes Reading FC`s Madejski Stadium. John Madejski, the Reading FC Chairman, is a notable donor to the Conservative party.
Politics: Reading West is a classic marginal, held by the Conservatives from its creation in 1983 until the Labour landslide of 1997, after which it remained Labour until the Conservative victory of 2010.
| Con: | 20523 (43%) |
| Lab: | 14519 (31%) |
| LDem: | 9546 (20%) |
| UKIP: | 1508 (3%) |
| Oth: | 1434 (3%) |
| MAJ: | 6004 (13%) |
| Con: | 14258 (34%) |
| Lab: | 18940 (45%) |
| LDem: | 6663 (16%) |
| UKIP: | 1180 (3%) |
| Oth: | 1062 (3%) |
| MAJ: | 4682 (11%) |
| Con: | 13451 (32%) |
| Lab: | 22300 (53%) |
| LDem: | 5387 (13%) |
| UKIP: | 848 (2%) |
| MAJ: | 8849 (21%) |
| Con: | 18844 (39%) |
| Lab: | 21841 (45%) |
| LDem: | 6153 (13%) |
| Oth: | 575 (1%) |
| MAJ: | 2997 (6%) |
*There were boundary changes after 2005
As expected it was 58/42 to Remain in Reading.
Andy, will you be putting this referendum coverage on YouTube? I think I might be shown at some point but BBC haven’t put it on iPlayer yet.
I’ve only recorded Sky but I can’t put that on YouTube because when I tried to put their 2010 coverage on I got a copyright warning. But the BBC will put their coverage on iPlayer very soon I imagine.
Former Reading LibDem Cllr Warren Swaine has been convicted of possessing extreme images of girls aged 13 as well as bestiality.
He received a 2 year community order, was placed on the SO Register for 5 years and ordered to pay £535 in Costs.
He was a Cllr until 2011 but resigned after an allegedly racist post about a Labour MP.
Poll of Reading West constituency, via @Survation
7-8 November (changes since GE17):
Con: 50% (+1)
Lab: 26% (-17)
LD: 13% (+7)
Brexit: 7% (+7)
Green: 3% (+1)
This poll was done before the Brexit Party withdrawal.
A very odd choice of seat for a constituency poll. Who on earth expects this to be anything other than a Tory hold?
The tories only had 2,876 majoirty in 2017 and Sharma is in the cabinet.
Reading East the more interesting option surely
If that Survation poll is correct, it suggests the Tories are piling votes in the wrong places – and / or, conversely, that Labour are getting them where they need to hold onto them.
Either that, or national polls are wrong (even allowing for the Lab poll increase the last couple of weeks) and these constituency polls are telling the truer story of Lab’s demise.
The constituency polls so far seem to suggest Labour are doing horribly in the north of England like Workington and Grimsby but still in contention in marginalslike Kensington, Gedling and Portsmouth South
Boris Johnson plots to fold DFID back into Foreign Office if he is re-elected on Thursday so the member here might be out of a cabinet job.
Alok Sharma is the new business secretary and also COP minister (Looks like no big name in charge of it then.)