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