| Reading Central | |
|---|---|
| Borough constituency for theHouse of Commons | |
 Boundaries since 2024 | |
 Boundary of Reading Central in South East England | |
| County | Berkshire |
| Electorate | 71,283 (2023)[1] |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 2024 |
| Member of Parliament | Matt Rodda (Labour) |
| Seats | One |
| Created from | |
Reading Central is aconstituency[n 1] in theHouse of Commons of theUK Parliament. Created as a result of the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the2024 general election.[2][3][4] Since 2024, it has been represented byLabour'sMatt Rodda, who was MP forReading East from 2017 to 2024.
The seat subsumes parts of the formerReading West andReading East constituencies but, unlike them, the whole of the new constituency will be within theBorough of Reading.
At the time of the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, there were eightconstituencies in thecounty of Berkshire. Of these constituencies, only three (Reading East,Reading West, andWindsor) were within the permitted electorate range of no fewer than 69,724 electors and no more than 77,062. All of the remaining constituencies were above the upper limit. TheBoundary Commission for England therefore proposed the addition of a ninth constituency within the county.[4][5]
Whilst both Reading constituencies could have remained unchanged, the boundary commission instead proposed a reconfiguration to account for the increased electorates of the surrounding constituencies, and to better reflect local ties in the surrounding communities. This involved the creation of two new constituencies,Earley and Woodley andMid Berkshire (renamedReading West and Mid Berkshire in the final proposals), both with the bulk of their electorate outside theBorough of Reading but including outer wards of the borough, together with a new Reading constituency entirely within the borough.[4]
During the process of acceptance of these proposals, the name was changed fromReading toReading Central.[2][4]
The constituency is defined as being composed of the following wards of the Borough of Reading as they existed on 1 December 2020:
The Battle, Minster and Southcote wards were previously inReading West, with the remainder, comprising 73% of the new seat, inReading East.[6]
As a result of a local government boundary review[7] which came into effect in May 2022,[8] the constituency now comprises the following current Borough of Reading wards:
The constituency is bordered by the seats ofReading West and Mid Berkshire,Henley and Thame, andEarley and Woodley.[10][11]
Electoral Calculus characterises the seat as "Progressive", with soft left or liberal views and high levels of university education.[12] Incomes and house prices in the seat are slightly higher than UK averages.
Reading East andReading West prior to 2024
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Matt Rodda | Labour | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Matt Rodda | 21,598 | 47.7 | −4.9 | |
| Conservative | Raj Singh | 8,961 | 19.8 | −16.6 | |
| Green | Dave McElroy | 6,417 | 14.2 | +11.1 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Henry Wright | 3,963 | 8.8 | +2.4 | |
| Reform | Andy Williams | 3,904 | 8.6 | +7.5 | |
| Independent | Michael Jeffrey Turberville | 227 | 0.5 | N/A | |
| TUSC | Adam Gillman | 221 | 0.5 | N/A | |
| Majority | 12,637 | 27.9 | +11.7 | ||
| Turnout | 45,291 | 61.5 | –10.8 | ||
| Registered electors | 73,600 | ||||
| Labourhold | Swing |  5.9 | |||
| 2019notional result[14] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Vote | % | |
| Labour | 27,107 | 52.6 | |
| Conservative | 18,756 | 36.4 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 3,288 | 6.4 | |
| Green | 1,603 | 3.1 | |
| Brexit Party | 574 | 1.1 | |
| Others | 202 | 0.4 | |
| Turnout | 51,530 | 72.3 | |
| Electorate | 71,283 | ||