Reading West (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Reading West County constituency |
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|---|---|
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| Reading West shown within Berkshire, and Berkshire shown within England | |
| Created: | 1983 |
| MP: | Martin Salter |
| Party: | Labour |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| County: | Berkshire |
| EP 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.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] 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. Martin has held the seat since then. Martin Salter is a controversial figure in the Labour Party because of his active and high profile support of shooting birds for court. This has drawn widespread criticism from people who support the Labour Party but are opposed to bloodsports.
[edit] Members of Parliament
- Constituency created (1983)
- 1983 — 1997: Tony Durant, Conservative
- 1997 — present: Martin Salter, Labour
[edit] Election results
[edit] Elections in the 2000s
- General election of 2005
| General Election 2005 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Martin Salter | 18,940 | 45.0 | -8.1 | |
| Conservative | Ewan Cameron | 14,268 | 33.9 | +1.9 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Denise Gaines | 6,663 | 15.8 | +3.0 | |
| UK Independence | Peter Williams | 1,180 | 2.8 | +0.8 | |
| Green | Adrian Windisch | 921 | 2.2 | +2.2 | |
| Veritas | Dave Boyle | 141 | 0.3 | +0.3 | |
| Majority | 4,672 | 11.1 | |||
| Turnout | 42,113 | 61.0 | +1.9 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | +5.0 | |||
| Source BBC (2005) | |||||
- General election of 2001
| General Election 2001 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
| UK Independence | 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 ONS | |||||
[edit] Elections in the 1990s
- General election of 1997
| General Election 1997 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | S Brown | 976 | 2.0 | N/A | |
| British National Party | I Dell | 320 | 0.7 | N/A | |
| UK Independence | 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 (2005) | |||||
- General election of 1992
| General Election 1992 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Tony Durant | 28,048 | 52.9 | ||
| Labour | Peter Ruhemann | 14,750 | 27.8 | ||
| Liberal Democrat | Keith Lock | 9,527 | 18.1 | ||
| Green | Philip Unsworth | 613 | 1.2 | ||
| Majority | 13,298 | 25.1 | |||
| Turnout | 52,938 | 78.0 | |||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
| Source Guardian Unlimited (2005) | |||||
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Election 2005 - Reading West. BBC (2005). Retrieved on 2005-05-06.
- Ask Aristotle — Reading West. Guardian Unlimited (2005). Retrieved on 2005-05-04.
- Election Maps. Ordnance Survey. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
