Summary

  • Welcome to the BBC General Election debate for Berkshire

  • Candidates from the Reading West and Mid Berkshire constituency will be battling it out

  • It is a new consitituency for 2024

  • Meet the candidates standing in Reading West and Mid Berkshire.

  • The debate is being hosted by BBC Radio Berkshire

  • You can use our lookup tool to find out who is standing as a candidate in your area and to which polling station you can go to vote

  • Use our interactive poll tracker to check the latest trends measuring how people say they intend to vote

  1. How it workspublished at 10:05 19 June

    BBC Radio Berkshire's Sarah Walker will be leading the debate.She'll be guiding the candidates through a number of topics to get their thoughts, opinions and policy positions.

  2. It's all about to kick-off...published at 09:16 19 June

    Patrick O'Hagan
    Political reporter, Berkshire

    Excuse the football pun, but we are now well and truly into the Euros so…it’s all to play for in what is a brand new seat for Berkshire, the rather confusing sounding Reading West and Mid Berkshire.

    For some people on the western fringes of Reading in places like Tilehurst or in small villages on the eastern fringes of West Berkshire like Pangbourne, Bucklebury or Mortimer this will be your new political home. Head to the polls next month and you’ll be voting in an MP for Reading West and Mid Berkshire, not an MP for Newbury, Reading West or even Wokingham as you may have done in previous elections.

    It’s all down to the Boundary Commission whose job it is to ensure that MPs the length and breadth of the land have the same numbers of voters in their patch, around 70,000 or so. Recent population growth in Newbury and Thatcham in particular means that Newbury’s MP was having to represent many more than that, prompting the Commission to move thousands of former Newbury voters over to this newly created parliamentary seat instead.

    History lesson over, what might this mean come election day? I wish I could tell you. I’d forget about putting money on England to win the Euros and put my money on the election result instead. Given that would get me the sack on the spot though for bringing the BBC into disrepute, that probably wouldn’t be the smartest of career moves.

    The conservatives claim the boundary changes favour them as they bring more of their traditional voters into the new constituency. Then again Labour say this is just the kind of seat they have to win if they’re to form the next government. For their part the Liberal Democrats point to their recent success in local council elections in West Berkshire as evidence they’re a growing force in this part of Berkshire. Add the Greens, Reform and a couple of independent candidates into the mix and you can see why this is a tough one to call.

    Whoever does win will write their name in the history books as the first ever MP for Reading West and Mid Berkshire. Fame and Wikipedia await.

    Berkshire debate set
    Image caption,

    All set for this morning’s debate

  3. Welcome to the Reading West and Mid Berkshire general election debatepublished at 08:59 19 June

    There are just two weeks to go until the polls open, giving all of us the chance to vote for who we want to run the country for the next five years.

    If you're a regular voter in this part of the world, you'll be used to selecting a new MP for Wokingham, Slough, or maybe Newbury.

    This time round though, some people in Berkshire will be electing an MP for a seat that doesn't even exist yet - Reading West and Mid Berkshire.

    We'll be following the debate live here from 1000 BST, or you can listen on BBC Sounds or on BBC Radio Berkshire.

    Media caption,

    Sarah Walker hears from your candidates in the Reading West and Mid Berkshire constituency.