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 of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by ...

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

Parliament of the United Kingdom 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 suprema ...

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

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

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 Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

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 Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

divisions. These constituencies were merged back into a single Reading constituency in 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; f ...

, when it was contested and won for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Tony Durant Sir Robert Anthony Bevis Durant (9 January 1928 – 18 February 2016), also known as Tony Durant, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. Political career Durant stood unsuccessfully for Rother Valley (UK Parliame ...

. In 1983 the constituencies in Reading were reorganised, creating the new constituencies of Reading East 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 Borough 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 Borough Constituency of Reading. The constituency was abolished 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 Reading East.

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