The proposed new MP seat of ‘Earley and Woodley’ would be a three way battleground between Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, local politicians have argued.

Recently, political prediction website the Electoral Calculus conducted a projection which showed Labour winning ‘Earley and Woodley’.

The area has been proposed as a new MP seat by the Boundary Commission of England ahead of the next general election.

The prediction shows Labour receiving 18,635 votes in the next election, with the Conservatives coming in second place with 16,831 and the Liberal Democrats receiving 9,865 votes.

READ MORE: General election prediction sees Labour win 'Earley and Woodley' MP seat

Councillor Andy Croy (Labour, Bulmershe & Whitegates) seized on the prediction as an indicator of increasing Labour support in the area.

The new Earley and Woodley constituency would include the Reading Borough wards of Whitley and Church, which are both Labour strongholds.

But Conservative and Liberal Democrat campaigners have said its too early to predict how the seat would go, and that it would be a ‘three horse race’ if the new constituency is formed.

Reacting to the prediction, Cllr Shahid Younis (Conservative, Bulmershe & Whitegates) “Obviously I don’t agree with that. It’s not a foregone conclusion, that’s not what we see on the ground.

“It’s an open secret we [the Conservatives] lost five seats in the 2022 elections, but that happened for a combination of a number of factors both local and national.

“That doesn’t mean our supporters are going away for good.

“There are issues which matter to them and they voted to express their voice, but it’s too early to judge.

“In the local elections, Labour only got one seat in Woodley and one in Wokingham, how can they say they’d win the whole constituency?

“We do have hardcore Conservatives here so it would be a three horse race. It would be a target seat for us.”

LOCAL ELECTIONS 2022: Full Wokingham Borough election results here 

The Wokingham Borough areas of Coronation and Loddon in Woodley, Sonning and Shinfield are all likely to vote Conservative in an election.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have made headway in Earley, Shinfield and South Lake in Woodley.

On Liberal Democrat chances to win, their local leader cllr Clive Jones (Hawkedon) said: “Woodley and Earley is definitely a three way marginal.

“Just look at the majorities Liberal Democrat councillors got in Maiden Erlegh, Hillside and Hawkedon in the 2022 elections.

“I think it will be a very interesting seat and it will be more likely that it’s a fight between the Lib Dems and Labour rather than the Conservatives.”

Lib Dems got vote majorities of 581 in Maiden Erlegh, 521 in Hillside and 900 in Hawkedon in the local elections.

Reacting to the predicted Labour win, cllr Jones said: “It’s too far out from the election to be looking at it and I don’t know how accurate the Electoral Calculus has been in the past.

“There’s no certainty that it will go to Labour or the Conservatives.”

The constituency boundary review, if adopted, is scheduled to be implemented on July 1, 2023.

The next general election will happen at the latest on January 24, 2025.