Reading East is a
constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...
represented in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
of the
UK Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremac ...
since 2017 by
Matt Rodda
Matthew Richard Allen Rodda (born 15 December 1966) is a British former journalist and civil servant, and a current Labour Party politician. He is the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the Reading East parliamentary constituency and Shado ...
, of the
Labour Party. The seat is one of two won (held or gained) by a Labour candidate in 2017 from a total of eight
covering Berkshire. Rodda's 2017 win was one of 30 net gains of the Labour Party.
The seat has been, relative to others, a semi-
marginal seat
A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. The ...
, and major-swing (volatile) seat since 2010. Its winner's majority has not exceeded 12.9% of the vote since the 15.2% majority won in that year. The seat has changed hands once since 2010.
Constituency profile
The seat contains the
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
and most of its students. The Thames Valley Business Park is in another part of the seat, hosting multinational and cutting-edge technology companies in the software and advanced computer science areas. Adjoining the redeveloped heart of town are a handful mid-rise blocks of ex-council flats and serried ranks of former relatively philanthropic biscuit, brick and seeds manufacturing/processing workers' neat terraces towards the south-centre and east of the town, including firmly
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
-held wards. The suburban north bank of the Thames section takes in
Caversham, forming four wards, whilst
Earley
Earley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Along with the neighbouring town of Woodley, the Office for National Statistics places Earley within the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area; for the purposes of local ...
and
Woodley, adding a further three wards, make up strongly-leaning
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
wards. Intermediate wards such as Redlands and Park are more marginal including
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
and
Liberal Democrat
Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties
See also
*Liberal democracy
*Lib ...
representation.
History
The Reading East parliamentary constituency was first contested in 1983, when it was won by a partial incumbent,
Gerry Vaughan, a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
who was before that election sitting MP for abolished
Reading South. He held the seat through two general elections until he retired before the
1997 election. The constituency was in 1997 won by the
Labour Party's
Jane Griffiths, thus a
backbencher
In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...
under the
Blair Ministry. She retained the seat in the
2001 election but was deselected by her
Constituency Labour Party
__NOTOC__
A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency.
In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituenc ...
before the
2005 election, when the seat was won by the
Tory
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...
candidate,
Rob Wilson
Robert Owen Biggs Wilson (born 4 January 1965) is an English politician and political author. He was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the Reading East parliamentary constituency in the 2005 general election, being re-elected in ...
, who held the seat through two elections. The seat was regained by the Labour Party's candidate in 2017, Matt Rodda, achieving the party's best showing since the seat's creation. The 2017 result came when there was a
hung parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisl ...
nationally. Until 2005 the seat had been a national
bellwether
A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.[bellwether]
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Ret ...
.
Reading East is one of five constituencies, the others being
Croydon Central
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensive ...
,
Enfield Southgate,
Leeds North West
Leeds North West is a constituency in the City of Leeds which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Alex Sobel, of Labour Co-op.
Boundaries
1950–1955: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Far He ...
and
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
, which elected Labour MPs in 2017 having not done so since
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
. As of the 2017 general election, the seat is one of two Labour seats from a total of eight
seats in Berkshire.
Boundaries and boundary changes
1983–1997: Formed as a county constituency, largely from parts of the abolished constituency of
Reading South. it also incorporated parts of the abolished borough constituency of
Reading North, including Caversham. It comprised the Borough of Reading wards of Abbey, Caversham, Church, Park, Peppard, Redlands, Thames, and Whitley, and the District of Wokingham wards of Arborfield, Barkham, Finchampstead, Shinfield, and Swallowfield.
1997–2010: For the
1997 general election, the constituency lost its southern areas comprising the parts of the District of Wokingham to the County Constituencies of
Wokingham
Wokingham is a market town in Berkshire, England, west of London, southeast of Reading, north of Camberley and west of Bracknell.
History
Wokingham means 'Wocca's people's home'. Wocca was apparently a Saxon chieftain who may als ...
(including Shinfield) and
Bracknell
Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Bracknell Forest, Borough of Bracknell Forest. It l ...
(Finchampstead), but gained other parts of Wokingham to the east of the Reading. The boundary with
Reading West was realigned, gaining Katesgrove ward and losing Whitley ward. It was redesignated as a Borough Constituency.
The revised constituency comprised the Borough of Reading wards of Abbey, Caversham, Church, Katesgrove, Park, Peppard, Redlands, and Thames, and the District of Wokingham wards of Bulmershe, Loddon, South Lake, and Whitegates.
2010–present: The Borough of Reading wards of Abbey, Caversham, Church, Katesgrove, Mapledurham, Park, Peppard, Redlands, and Thames, and the District of Wokingham wards of Bulmershe and Whitegates, Loddon, and South Lake.
Marginal changes due to revision of local authority wards.
Reading East is bordered by
Reading West,
Henley,
Maidenhead
Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...
, and
Wokingham
Wokingham is a market town in Berkshire, England, west of London, southeast of Reading, north of Camberley and west of Bracknell.
History
Wokingham means 'Wocca's people's home'. Wocca was apparently a Saxon chieftain who may als ...
.
Members of Parliament
Elections
Elections in the 2010s
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
Elections in the 1980s
See also
*
List of parliamentary constituencies in Berkshire
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reading East (Uk Parliament Constituency)
Parliamentary constituencies in Berkshire
Politics of Reading, Berkshire
Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983