The ceremonial county of Berkshire (which is entirely made up of unitary authorities – Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham) is divided into eight parliamentary constituencies: two borough constituencies and six county constituencies.
Further information: 2024 United Kingdom general election in South East England |
Name | Member of Parliament | |
---|---|---|
Bracknell | ||
Earley and Woodley | ||
Maidenhead | ||
Newbury | ||
Reading Central | ||
Reading West and Mid Berkshire | ||
Slough | ||
Windsor | ||
Wokingham |
Further information: 2019 United Kingdom general election |
Conservative † Labour ‡ Liberal Democrat ¤
Name[nb 1] | Electorate[1] | Majority[2][nb 2] | Member of Parliament[2] | Nearest opposition[2] | Map | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bracknell CC | 78,978 | 19,829 | James Sunderland † | Paul Bidwell ‡ | |||
Maidenhead CC | 76,668 | 18,846 | Theresa May † | Joshua Reynolds ¤ | |||
Newbury CC | 83,414 | 16,047 | Laura Farris † | Lee Dillon ¤ | |||
Reading East BC | 77,152 | 5,924 | Matt Rodda ‡ | Craig Morley † | |||
Reading West CC | 74,137 | 4,117 | Alok Sharma † | Rachel Eden ‡ | |||
Slough BC | 86,818 | 13,640 | Tan Dhesi ‡ | Kanwal Toor Gill † | |||
Windsor CC | 75,038 | 20,079 | Adam Afriyie † | Julian Tisi ¤ | |||
Wokingham CC | 83,953 | 7,383 | John Redwood † | Dr Phillip Lee ¤ |
Under the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the Boundary Commission for England[3] decided to retain Berkshire's 8 constituencies for the 2010 election, making minor changes to realign constituency boundaries with the boundaries of current local government wards, and to reduce the electoral disparity between constituencies, including the transfer of Bray from Windsor to Maidenhead, Binfield from Bracknell to Windsor and the return of Foxborough ward from Windsor to Slough.
Name | Boundaries 1997-2010 | Boundaries 2010–present |
---|---|---|
1. Bracknell CC | ||
2. Maidenhead CC | ||
3. Newbury CC | ||
4. Reading East BC | ||
5. Reading West CC | ||
6. Slough BC | ||
7. Windsor CC | ||
8. Wokingham CC |
See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.
Following the abandonment of the Sixth Periodic Review (the 2018 review), the Boundary Commission for England formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021.[4] Initial proposals were published on 8 June 2021 and, following two periods of public consultation, revised proposals were published on 8 November 2022. The final proposals were published on 28 June 2023.
The commission has proposed that Berkshire be combined with Hampshire and Surrey as a sub-region of the South East Region. As a result, Windsor now includes Englefield Green in the Surrey borough of Runnymede. The two Reading constituencies (East and West) would be abolished and revert to a single constituency (Reading Central), with two new constituencies created, named Earley and Woodley, and Reading West and Mid Berkshire.[5][6]
The following constituencies are proposed:
Containing electoral wards from Bracknell Forest
Containing electoral wards from Reading
Containing electoral wards from Slough
Containing electoral wards from West Berkshire
Containing electoral wards from Windsor and Maidenhead
Containing electoral wards from Wokingham
1also includes part in the Surrey borough of Runnymede
Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019[7]
The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Berkshire in the 2019 general election were as follows:
Party | Votes | % | Change from 2017 | Seats | Change from 2017 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | 222,532 | 50.1% | 3.8% | 6 | 0 |
Labour | 115,747 | 26.1% | 6.7% | 2 | 0 |
Liberal Democrats | 87,532 | 19.7% | 9.4% | 0 | 0 |
Greens | 13,796 | 3.1% | 1.5% | 0 | 0 |
Brexit | 2,284 | 0.5% | new | 0 | 0 |
Others | 2,044 | 0.5% | 0.9% | 0 | 0 |
Total | 443,935 | 100.0 | 8 |
Note that before 1983 Berkshire additionally covered the southern part of what is now Oxfordshire, and the Eton and Slough areas which now form part of Berkshire were part of Buckinghamshire.
Election year | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1929 | 1945 | 1950 | 1951 | 1955 | 1959 | 1964 | 1966 | 1970 | 1974 (F) | 1974 (O) | 1979 | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | 54.2 | 48.2 | 60.4 | 48.6 | 47.0 | 50.0 | 56.2 | 58.5 | 59.7 | 47.7 | 46.5 | 53.6 | 44.4 | 44.2 | 54.3 | 54.7 | 57.2 | 55.3 | 42.2 | 40.2 | 43.5 | 50.6 | 54.3 | 53.9 | 50.1 |
Labour | 13.8 | 16.2 | 22.9 | 22.4 | 37.9 | 38.1 | 42.3 | 39.4 | 37.1 | 33.5 | 39.1 | 33.3 | 26.0 | 28.3 | 23.5 | 16.0 | 16.5 | 19.8 | 28.5 | 30.7 | 24.0 | 18.0 | 21.9 | 32.8 | 26.1 |
Liberal Democrat1 | 32.1 | 35.6 | 16.7 | 28.9 | 13.8 | 11.7 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 3.3 | 18.5 | 14.4 | 12.8 | 29.2 | 27.3 | 21.2 | 28.1 | 25.2 | 23.5 | 24.6 | 26.0 | 27.4 | 25.2 | 8.9 | 10.3 | 19.7 |
Green Party | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | * | * | * | * | * | 1.3 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 3.1 |
UKIP | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | * | * | * | 3.0 | 10.6 | 0.8 | * |
Brexit Party | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 |
Other | - | - | - | - | 1.3 | 0.2 | - | - | - | 0.2 | - | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 4.7 | 3.1 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
1pre-1979: Liberal Party; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance
* Included in Other
Accurate vote percentages for the 1918, 1931 and 1935 elections are unavailable because some candidates were elected unopposed.
Election year | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
Labour | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Liberal Democrat1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
11983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance
Constituency | 1885 | 1886 | 90 | 1892 | 1895 | 98 | 1900 | 01 | 04 | 1906 | Jan 1910 | Dec 1910 | 13 | 16 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abingdon | Wroughton | A. K. Loyd | Strauss | Henderson | A. K. Loyd | |||||||||
Newbury | W. G. Mount | W. A. Mount | Mackarness | W. A. Mount | ||||||||||
Reading | Murdoch | Palmer | Murdoch | Palmer | Isaacs | Wilson | ||||||||
Windsor | Richardson-Gardner | Barry | Mason | |||||||||||
Wokingham | Russell | Young | Gardner |
Constituency | 1918 | 21 | 22 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1929 | 1931 | 1935 | 42 | 1945 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abingdon | Wigan | A. T. Loyd | Lessing | Glyn | |||||||
Newbury | W. A. Mount | Brown | Stranger | Brown | Hurd | ||||||
Reading | Wilson | Cadogan | Hastings | Williams | Hastings | Howitt | Mikardo | ||||
Windsor | Gardner | Somerville | Mott-Radclyffe |
Constituency | 1950 | 1951 | 53 | 1955 | 1959 | 1964 | 1966 | 1970 | Feb 74 | Oct 74 | 1979 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abingdon | Glyn | Neave | T. Benyon | ||||||||
Newbury | Hurd | Astor | McNair-Wilson | ||||||||
Reading North | K. Mackay | Bennett | Durant | ||||||||
Reading South (1950–55, 74–83) / Reading (1955–74) | Mikardo | Emery | Lee | Vaughan | |||||||
Windsor / Windsor and Maidenhead (1974) | Mott-Radclyffe | Glyn | |||||||||
Wokingham | Remnant | van Straubenzee |
Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats
Constituency | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 93 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 19 | 2019 | 2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Newbury | McNair-Wilson | Chaplin | Rendel | R. Benyon | Farris | ||||||||
Reading West / RW and Mid Berks ('24) | Durant | Salter | Sharma | ||||||||||
Reading East / R Central (2024) | Vaughan | Griffiths | Wilson | Rodda | |||||||||
Wr & Maidenhead / Windsor (1997)1 | Glyn | Trend | Afriyie | ||||||||||
Wokingham | van Straubenzee | Redwood | |||||||||||
Slough | Watts | Mactaggart | Dhesi | ||||||||||
East Berkshire / Bracknell (1997) | A. MacKay | Lee | → | Sunderland | |||||||||
Maidenhead | May | ||||||||||||
Earley and Woodley |
1from 2024 this includes areas of Surrey