County Berkshire Created 1983 Member of parliament Alok Sharma Party Conservative Party | Electorate 73,216 (December 2010) European Parliament constituency South East England Number of members 1 | |
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Created from Reading North, Newbury and Reading South Major settlements Reading, Theale, Tilehurst Replaced by Reading North, Newbury, Reading South | ||
Reading West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Alok Sharma, a Conservative.
Contents
Boundaries
1983-1997: The Borough of Reading wards of Battle, Katesgrove, Kentwood, Minster, Norcot, Southcote, and Tilehurst, and the District of Newbury wards of Calcot, Pangbourne, Purley, Theale, and Tilehurst.
1997-2010: The Borough of Reading wards of Battle, Kentwood, Minster, Norcot, Southcote, Tilehurst, and Whitley, and the District of Newbury wards of Calcot, Pangbourne, Purley, Theale, and Tilehurst.
2010-present: The Borough of Reading wards of Battle, Kentwood, Minster, Norcot, Southcote, Tilehurst, and Whitley, and the District of West Berkshire wards of Birch Copse, Calcot, Pangbourne, Purley on Thames, Theale, and Westwood.
The constituency is bordered by Newbury, Henley, Reading East and Wokingham.
History
The Reading West parliamentary constituency was first contested in 1983, when it was won a member of the Conservative, Tony Durant, the sitting MP for the abolished Reading North constituency. He held the seat through two subsequent general elections until he retired at the 1997 election.
The constituency was then won by Martin Salter for Labour, as part of the landslide that brought Labour back to power under Tony Blair. Salter held the seat through the Blair-Brown Ministry 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.
Constituency profile
Since its 1983 creation the constituency has been a bellwether paradigm example of a marginal seat. Boundary changes have taken in areas of population expansion to the east in new largely private sector housing estates for the 2010 election. Unemployment is close to the regional average, which is lower than the national average and the constituency has seen a marked increase in properties and property prices throughout from 2001–2011 period which has seen town centre regeneration and investment by a Labour Party-controlled council enhanced by Reading railway station hub improvements and enterprise areas equally supported under the Conservative-led governments of the Cameron Ministry and May Ministry.