For those interested in the analysing the numbers the information below might save you some time. It’s sorted in order from the largest Labour majority down to the largest ‘other’ (Conservative) majority.
The fact that the Liberal vote collapsed is probably not surprising to anyone given that this was the pattern across the country and our local Liberal Democrats were less able than many others to distance themselves from the national party, due to chosing coalition with the Conservatives last May.
What is more interesting is looking at how the Conservative vote share has also dropped, in wards as different as Whitley and Caversham. They gained from the Liberal Democrats in Tilehurst (Labour moving up to second place and Liberal Democrats going from 1st to 3rd) but they lost to Paul Woodward of Labour in Church ward and are now placed third in Park ward losing their councillor there. I believe there are some serious questions being asked this weekend about why the Conservatives in Reading seem to have done worse than elsewhere.
As you can imagine there are some very happy people in the Labour party this weekend, but we are also getting back to work – I’ve been dealing with casework involving allotments, housing, bollards and noise!
Data is below:
Ward
|
Labour
|
Tory
|
LibDem
|
Green
|
Others
|
Total
Votes |
Labour
% |
Tory
% |
LibDem
% |
Green
% |
Others
% |
Labour
majority |
Labour
majority % |
Norcot
|
1557
|
650
|
233
|
220
|
2660
|
58.5
|
24.4
|
8.8
|
8.3
|
0.0
|
907
|
34.1
|
|
Whitley
|
1331
|
572
|
140
|
88
|
207
|
2338
|
56.9
|
24.5
|
6.0
|
3.8
|
8.9
|
759
|
32.5
|
Battle
|
1373
|
690
|
230
|
181
|
110
|
2584
|
53.1
|
26.7
|
8.9
|
7.0
|
4.3
|
683
|
26.4
|
Southcote
|
1543
|
858
|
193
|
157
|
2751
|
56.1
|
31.2
|
7.0
|
5.7
|
0.0
|
685
|
24.9
|
|
Abbey
|
1298
|
699
|
369
|
293
|
119
|
2778
|
46.7
|
25.2
|
13.3
|
10.5
|
4.3
|
599
|
21.6
|
Katesgrove
|
1100
|
431
|
592
|
165
|
90
|
2378
|
46.3
|
18.1
|
24.9
|
6.9
|
3.8
|
508
|
21.4
|
Redlands
|
1295
|
526
|
757
|
345
|
2923
|
44.3
|
18.0
|
25.9
|
11.8
|
0.0
|
538
|
18.4
|
|
Minster
|
1447
|
1066
|
286
|
220
|
3019
|
47.9
|
35.3
|
9.5
|
7.3
|
0.0
|
381
|
12.6
|
|
Church
|
1229
|
901
|
181
|
192
|
221
|
2724
|
45.1
|
33.1
|
6.6
|
7.0
|
8.1
|
328
|
12.0
|
Kentwood
|
1159
|
1369
|
247
|
177
|
134
|
3086
|
37.6
|
44.4
|
8.0
|
5.7
|
4.3
|
-210
|
-6.8
|
Park
|
1213
|
732
|
123
|
1585
|
3653
|
33.2
|
20.0
|
3.4
|
43.4
|
0.0
|
-372
|
-10.2
|
|
Caversham
|
977
|
1335
|
366
|
438
|
3116
|
31.4
|
42.8
|
11.7
|
14.1
|
0.0
|
-358
|
-11.5
|
|
Tilehurst
|
774
|
1146
|
957
|
159
|
3036
|
25.5
|
37.7
|
31.5
|
5.2
|
0.0
|
-372
|
-12.3
|
|
Thames
|
821
|
2139
|
522
|
439
|
3921
|
20.9
|
54.6
|
13.3
|
11.2
|
0.0
|
-1318
|
-33.6
|
|
Peppard
|
671
|
2109
|
523
|
340
|
3643
|
18.4
|
57.9
|
14.4
|
9.3
|
0.0
|
-1438
|
-39.5
|
|
Total
|
17788
|
15223
|
5719
|
4999
|
881
|
44610
|
39.9
|
34.1
|
12.8
|
11.2
|
2.0
|
==============================
You may find this of interest
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/05/10/challenging-conventional-wisdom-about-the-elections/
Reading Labour get a mention 🙂
Thanks it's an interesting post. Dan Paskins came to help in Church ward for a morning as well!