Blue is the colour

Rose Harland • Published 11 Jun 2009 07:00 0 Comments

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THE TORIES say their unofficial analysis of last week"s Euro poll means Reading council and both its parliamentary seats are set to turn blue.

Labour are still shrugging off the weekend"s disappointment but a ward-by-ward breakdown how many seats would have been won if voters had been choosing councillors gives the Tories nine, Labour four, the Lib Dems two and the Greens one.

Turnout in Reading borough was 32.91%, compared to 35.3% in 2004 and 27% in 1999, with the Tories polling 9,894 votes, Labour 6,514, Greens 4,978, Lib Dems 4,600 and UKIP 4,406.

Reading East Tory MP Rob Wilson said the results were 'very encouraging' and added: 'In my constituency we had double the vote of Labour. They had 15%, we had more than 30%, and they were forced into third by the Greens. If it had included the Woodley and Earley part of my constituency they could have been forced into fourth.

The ward figures, produced by Tory councillor Richard Willis, show Tories winning the Labour strongholds of Southcote and Minster and giving the Lib Dems a chasing in Katesgrove and Redlands.

The Greens won most votes in Park (851), ahead of Labour (489) and Tories (442) and were second behind the Tories in Caversham, Mapledurham and Thames. But Labour beat the Tories in Abbey (498-478), Battle (538-360), Norcot (598-431) and Whitley (502-413).

Council spokesman Chris Branagan said: 'The figures were based on the returning officer"s working papers and we will not be producing any official figures by council ward because these were European elections.' In Thursday"s vote for MEPs in the South East Euro constituency Tories polled 34.8% (four seats), UKIP (18.8%) and Lib Dems (14.1%) two seats each, and the Greens (11.6% ) and Labour 8.2% one seat each. Turnout was 28.85%.

Reading West Labour MP Martin Salter said there is 'no base for comparison' between European and national elections and said: 'In 1999 we lost the European election in Reading West but won with a landslide in the general election two years later.'

In Wokingham and West Berkshire the Tories were top, Greens fourth and Labour fifth, with UKIP beating the Lib Dems to second in Wokingham and the positions reversed in West Berkshire.

- South East MEPs: Daniel Hannan, Richard Ashworth, Nirj Diva and James Elles (all Conservative): Nigel Farage, Marta Andreasen (both UKIP); Sharon Bowles, Catherine Bearder (Lib Dem); Caroline Lucas (Green); Peter Skinner (Labour).

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 11 Jun 09

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