Reading West and Mid Berkshire (UK Parliament constituency) explained

Reading West and Mid Berkshire
Parliament:uk
Year:2024
Type:County
Electorate:69,999 (2023)[1]
Region:England
Elects Howmany:One

Reading West and Mid Berkshire, originally known as simply Mid Berkshire, is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was formed as a result of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies and subsumed parts of the Newbury, Wokingham, and the former Reading West constituencies. It was first contested at the 2024 general election.[2] [3] The current MP is Olivia Bailey.

Some 30% of the constituency's voters live in the Borough of Reading, with the remainder living in the West Berkshire local government area.

History

At the time of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, there were eight constituencies in the county of Berkshire. Of these constituencies, only three (Reading East, Reading West, and Windsor) were within the permitted electorate range of no fewer than 69,724 electors and no more than 77,062. All of the remaining constituencies were above the upper limit. The Boundary Commission for England therefore proposed the addition of a ninth constituency within the county.[3] [4]

Whilst both Reading constituencies could have remained unchanged, the boundary commission instead proposed a reconfiguration to account for the increased electorates of the surrounding constituencies, and to better reflect local ties in the surrounding communities. This involved the creation of two new constituencies (Earley and Woodley and Mid Berkshire), both with the bulk of their electorate outside the Borough of Reading but including outer wards of the borough, together with a new Reading Central constituency entirely within the borough.[3]

During the process of acceptance of these proposals, the name was changed from Mid Berkshire to West Reading and Mid Berkshire, despite the relative small proportion of the constituency that is within Reading. The new constituency includes three borough wards and twelve wards from West Berkshire, as opposed to seven and six respectively for the old Reading West constituency.[1] [3]

In mid-October 2023, the Liberal Democrats selected Helen Belcher OBE as their prospective parliamentary candidate for the seat in the 2024 general election. At the beginning of January 2024, two West Berkshire councillors joined the candidate list, with Carolyne Culver announced as the Green Party candidate and Adrian Abbs announcing his intention to run as an independent candidate. In February 2024, Olivia Bailey was announced as the Labour Party candidate and in April Ross Mackinnon was announced as the Conservative Party candidate.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

In December 2023, the national Labour party included the constituency in its list of 211 non-battleground seats, suggesting they did not see it as winnable.[10] In 23 March 2024, when announcing Bailey's candidature, the local party did describe the constituency as a 'battleground' seat.[8]

Constituency profile

The constituency has a mixed nature, including parts of the continuously built-up urban area of Reading (both within and without the boundaries of the borough) and an extensive rural area, which includes villages such as Aldermaston, Aldworth, Bradfield, Basildon, Bucklebury, Burghfield, Compton, East Ilsley, Hampstead Norreys, Mortimer, Pangbourne, Streatley, Theale, West Ilsley, Woolhampton and Yattendon. Some 30% of the constituency's voters live in the Borough of Reading, with the remainder living in the West Berkshire local government area.[1] [11]

The wards that make up the constituency are represented by 26 councillors. As of November 2023, these comprise 11 Liberal Democrats, 8 Conservatives, 6 Labour and 1 Green.[1] [12] [13]

Boundaries

The constituency composed of the following wards (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

The Reading wards. together with Pangbourne, Theale and the three Tilehurst wards in West Berkshire, comprising 67% of the electorate, were previously in the Reading West seat, with the remaining areas coming from Newbury and Wokingham in equal parts.[15]

The seat bordered by the seats of Newbury, Didcot and Wantage, Henley and Thame, Reading Central, Earley and Woodley, Wokingham, North East Hampshire, and North West Hampshire.[16]

Members of Parliament

Reading West prior to 2024

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result[17]
PartyVote%
28,078 56.8
11,320 22.9
8,356 16.9
1,690 3.4
Turnout49,44470.6
Electorate69,999

See also

External links

51.45°N -1.14°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – South East . . 2023-11-13 . 2023-11-13 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231113141056/https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/web/20231113141056/https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/2023-review/the-2023-review-of-parliamentary-constituency-boundaries-in-england-volume-two-constituency-names-designations-and-composition/the-2023-review-of-parliamentary-constituency-boundaries-in-england-volume-two-constituency-names-designations-and-composition-south-east/#lg_reading-west-and-mid-berkshire-cc-69999.
  2. Web site: South East Boundary Commission for England . . 2023-11-13 . 2023-11-13 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231113142143/https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/web/20231113142143/https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/2023-review/south-east/.
  3. Web site: Initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituency boundaries in the South East region . . 2023-11-13 . 2023-11-13 . live. https://web.archive.org/web/20231113143035/https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/web/20231113143035/https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/2023-review/south-east/initial-proposals-for-new-parliamentary-constituency-boundaries-in-the-south-east-region/page/5/#lg_initial-proposals-for-the-berkshire-hampshire-and-surrey-sub-region.
  4. Web site: Background to the 2023 Review . . 2023-11-13 . 2023-11-13 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231113143331/https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/web/20231113143331/https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/2023-review/south-east/initial-proposals-for-new-parliamentary-constituency-boundaries-in-the-south-east-region/page/3/.
  5. News: Lib Dems select Helen to be their general election candidate in Reading West and Mid Berkshire seat . rdg.today . Phil . Creighton . 10 October 2023 . 18 December 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231218124735/https://rdg.today/lib-dems-select-helen-to-be-their-general-election-candidate-in-reading-west-and-mid-berkshire-seat/ . 18 December 2023 . live.
  6. Web site: Abbs to run as an independent . rdg.today . Niki . Hinman . 3 January 2024 . 3 January 2024 . 3 January 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240103152643/https://rdg.today/abbs-to-run-as-an-independent/ . live.
  7. Web site: West Berks Green Party announces candidates for expected 2024 general election . Niki . Hinman . 3 January 2024 . Newbury Today . 21 January 2024 . 4 January 2024 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240104014715/https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/green-party-parliamentary-candidates-announced-9346888/.
  8. News: Hinman . Niki . 23 March 2024 . Reading-born Olivia aims for Reading West seat . 28 March 2024.
  9. Web site: VOTE 2024: Why Ross Mackinnon is standing for the Conservatives in Reading West and Mid Berkshire . 23 May 2024 . Reading Today.
  10. Web site: Labour selections: Full list of 211 'non-battleground' seats now open to applications . labourlist.org . Tom . Belger . 8 December 2023 . 3 January 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231209080344/https://labourlist.org/2023/12/labour-seats-candidate-selections-apply-constituencies/ . 9 December 2023 . live.
  11. Web site: Election Maps . . 2023-11-14 . 2023-11-14 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231114123232/https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/?x=453242&y=172989&z=5&bnd1=UTW&bnd2=&labels=on.
  12. Web site: Your Councillors by Ward . . 2023-11-14 . 2023-11-14 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231114130342/https://decisionmaking.westberks.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&VW=TABLE&PIC=1.
  13. Web site: Your Councillors by Ward . . 2023-11-14 . 2023-11-14 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231114130128/https://democracy.reading.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&VW=LIST&PIC=0.
  14. Web site: The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023 . Schedule 1 Part 6 South East region.
  15. Web site: Boundary review 2023: Which seats will change in the UK? .
  16. Web site: Revised Proposals for the South East Region . . 2023-11-13 . 2023-11-13 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231113143735/https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/review2023/b65f7782-658b-4c4a-9cba-59c16c807f77/a0-maps/A0_RP_SE_Landscape_Final.pdf.
  17. Web site: Notional results for a UK general election on 12 December 2019 . 11 July 2024 . Rallings & Thrasher, Professor David Denver (Scotland), Nicholas Whyte (NI) for Sky News, PA, BBC News and ITV News . UK Parliament.

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