Reading North was a

borough constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called " constituen ...

represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the

first past the post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

system of election. The constituency covered an area in and around the town of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

in the county of Berkshire.

History

The Reading North parliamentary constituency was first created for the 1950 general election by splitting the previous parliamentary constituency of

into North and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

divisions. These constituencies were merged back into a single Reading constituency for the 1955 general election. The Reading North constituency was recreated in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, when it was won for the Conservative Party by Tony Durant. In 1983 the constituencies in Reading were reorganised, creating the new constituencies of

Reading East Reading East was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. In the 2019–2024 Parliament, it was one of two Labour seats from a total of eight seats in Berkshire. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Re ...

and Reading West. Tony Durant went on to hold the Reading West constituency until 1997. In both its incarnations, the constituency included Reading town centre.

Boundaries

1950–1955

The County Borough of Reading wards of Abbey, Battle, Castle, Caversham East, Caversham West, Tilehurst, and Victoria. It was then abolished and absorbed into the re-established constituency of Reading, with the exception of the Tilehurst ward, which was transferred to Newbury.

1974–1983

The County Borough of Reading wards of Abbey, Battle, Castle, Caversham, Katesgrove, Minster, Norcot, Thames, and Tilehurst. ''The Tilehurst and Norcot wards were transferred back from Newbury; the remaining wards were previously part of the abolished constituency of Reading.'' The constituency was abolished again for the 1983 general election, with the majority forming the basis of the new county constituency of Reading West, whilst northern areas, including Caversham, formed part of the new county constituency of

Members of Parliament

MPs 1950–1955

MPs 1974–1983

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1970s

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reading North (Uk Parliament Constituency) Politics of Reading, Berkshire Parliamentary constituencies in Berkshire (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1950 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1955 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1974 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1983