1986 Reading Borough Council election

← 1984

8 May 1986 (1986-05-08)

1987 →

15 seats of 45 on council
23 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party
	Lab	Con	Lib
Leader	Mike Orton	Deryck Morton	Jim Day
Party	Labour	Conservative	Liberal
Alliance			Alliance
Seats before	17	23	5
Seats after	22	18	5
Seat change	5	5
Popular vote	15,213	13,736	11,920
Percentage	36.4%	32.8%	28.5%
Swing	2.9%	9.6%	5.3%

The 1986 Reading Borough Council election was held on 8 May 1986, at the same time as other local elections across England and Scotland. One third of Reading Borough Council's 45 seats were up for election.

The election saw the Conservatives lose their majority on the council. Labour gained most seats, but remained one seat short of an overall majority, leaving the council with no overall control. After the election, Labour had 22 seats, the Conservatives had 18 seats, and the SDP-Liberal Alliance had 5 seats, all of whom were Liberals.

Labour subsequently took control of the council, with the support of two disaffected Conservatives.^[1] The Labour leader, Mike Orton, took the council's top political job as chair of the policy committee. The Conservative leader, Deryck Morton, stood down as party leader immediately after the election, being replaced by Geoff Canning.^[2] The Liberal leader remained Jim Day. Turnout was reported to be 39%.^[3]

Ward results

Reading Borough Council Election, 1986
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Labour	9	5	0	+5	60.0	36.4	15,213	+2.9
Conservative	4	0	5	-5	26.7	32.8	13,736	-9.6
Alliance	2	1	1	0	13.3	28.5	11,920	+5.3
Green	0				0.0	2.3	954	+1.4

The results in each ward were as follows (candidates with an asterisk* were the previous incumbent standing for re-election, candidates with a dagger(†) were sitting councillors contesting different wards):^[4]^[3]

Abbey Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dave Geary*	1,258	54.8	−2.9
	Conservative	Chris Webb	476	20.7	−7.4
	SDP	Jeremy Lazenby	404	17.6	+3.5
	Green	Peter Oldham	156	6.8	n/a
Turnout			2,294
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.25

Battle Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Graham Rush*	1,292	51.4	+8.1
	SDP	Clive Jones	597	23.7	−10.5
	Conservative	Susan White	512	20.4	+0.3
	Green	Ian Cooper	114	4.5	+2.2
Turnout			2,515
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.3

Caversham Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Fred Pugh*	1,624	54.7	−10.0
	Labour	Geoff Mander	803	27.1	+2.6
	SDP	Mary Hargreaves	541	18.2	+7.4
Turnout			2,968
	Conservative hold		Swing	-6.3

Church Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	June Orton*	1,077	51.3	+2.1
	Conservative	Jennifer Abbott	569	27.1	−8.3
	Liberal	Steve Begg	452	21.5	+6.2
Turnout			2,098
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.2

Katesgrove Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mark Hendry	1,184	56.5	+5.7
	Conservative	Shirley Mills*	620	29.6	−3.9
	SDP	Nikola Sergt	292	13.9	+0.8
Turnout			2,096
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+4.8

Kentwood Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Ford	1,227	43.7	+7.3
	Conservative	Derek Browne*	865	30.8	−9.1
	Labour	Linda Harper	714	25.4	+1.8
Turnout			2,806
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+8.2

Minster Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Sage*	1,218	42.1	−12.6
	Labour	Brian Statter	1,014	35.0	+5.0
	SDP	Steve Hanson	566	19.6	+4.2
	Green	Andrew Hardy	97	3.4	n/a
Turnout			2,895
	Conservative hold		Swing	-8.8

Norcot Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jo Lovelock	1,373	43.9	+3.0
	Liberal	John Freeman*	1,168	37.3	−2.9
	Conservative	Peter Wells	518	16.5	−2.4
	Green	Maureen Gray	71	2.3	n/a
Turnout			3,130
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+2.95

Park Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gill Parker	1,530	51.4	+7.2
	Conservative	Norman Pearson*	921	30.9	−7.6
	SDP	Robin Pratt	359	12.1	−1.4
	Green	Philip Unsworth	167	5.6	+1.8
Turnout			2,977
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	7.4

Peppard Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoff Canning*	1,479	44.5	−18.1
	Liberal	Ian Fenwick	1,452	43.6	+19.5
	Labour	Phil Hingley	396	11.9	−1.4
Turnout			3,327
	Conservative hold		Swing	-18.8

Redlands Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rajinder Sohpal	1,105	34.1	−3.2
	SDP	David Cornes	1,043	32.2	+7.9
	Conservative	Grace Wray	912	28.1	−6.0
	Green	Chris Parr	181	5.6	+1.3
Turnout			3,241
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+4.6

Southcote Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christine Howell	1,430	44.0	+10.7
	Conservative	John Rimmer	1,187	36.5	−9.2
	SDP	Andrew McLuskey	632	19.5	−1.5
Turnout			3,249
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.95

Thames Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hamza Fuad*	1,435	40.6	−19.7
	Liberal	Martyn Allies	1,248	35.3	+7.7
	Conservative	Tony Markham†	381	10.8	n/a
	Labour	Mark Drukker	306	8.6	−3.5
	Green	Louise Barnes	168	4.7	n/a
Turnout			3,538
	Conservative hold		Swing	-13.7

Tilehurst Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Janet Bond*	1,614	59.5	+4.4
	Conservative	David Henderson	655	24.1	−8.4
	Labour	Jim Toner	445	16.4	+4.1
Turnout			2,714
	Liberal hold		Swing	+6.4

Whitley Ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mike Orton*	1,286	65.1	+13.1
	Conservative	Barry Cummings	364	18.4	−6.7
	SDP	John Wood	325	16.5	−6.5
Turnout			1,975
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.9

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ian Fenwick	1,564	46.6	+2.9
	Conservative	Frank Heyes	1,408	41.9	−2.5
	Labour	Phil Hingley	385	11.5	−0.4
Majority			156	4.6
Turnout			3,357	45.2
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.7

v t e Council elections in Berkshire
Bracknell Forest Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1997 2000 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Reading Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Slough Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023
West Berkshire Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1997 2000 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1997 2000 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Wokingham Borough Council	1973 1976 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Berkshire County Council	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 Abolished
See also: Wards Boundary changes

v t e (1985 ←) 1986 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1987)
London boroughs	Barking and Dagenham Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston upon Thames Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond upon Thames Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth Westminster
Metropolitan boroughs	Barnsley Birmingham Bradford Bolton Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
District councils (England)	Adur Amber Valley Barrow-in-Furness Basildon Basingstoke and Deane Bassetlaw Bath Blackburn Brentwood Brighton Bristol Broadland Broxbourne Burnley Cambridge Cannock Chase Carlisle Cheltenham Cherwell Chester Chorley Colchester Congleton Craven Crawley Crewe and Nantwich Daventry Derby East Devon Eastbourne Eastleigh Ellesmere Port and Neston Elmbridge Epping Forest Exeter Fareham Gillingham Gloucester Gosport Great Grimsby Great Yarmouth Halton Harlow Harrogate Hart Hartlepool Hastings Havant Hereford Hertsmere Hinckley and Bosworth Huntingdonshire Hyndburn Ipswich Kingston upon Hull Leicester Leominster Lincoln Macclesfield Maidstone Mid Sussex Milton Keynes Mole Valley Newcastle-under-Lyme North Bedfordshire North Hertfordshire Norwich Nuneaton and Bedworth Oadby and Wigston Oxford Pendle Penwith Peterborough Portsmouth Preston Purbeck Reading Redditch Reigate and Banstead Rochford Rossendale Rugby Runnymede Rushmoor Scunthorpe Shrewsbury and Atcham Slough South Bedfordshire South Cambridgeshire South Herefordshire South Lakeland Southampton Southend-on-Sea St Albans Stevenage Stoke-on-Trent Stratford-on-Avon Stroud Swale Tamworth Tandridge Thamesdown Three Rivers Thurrock Tonbridge and Malling Torbay Tunbridge Wells Watford Waveney Welwyn Hatfield West Dorset West Lancashire West Lindsey West Oxfordshire Weymouth and Portland Winchester Woking Wokingham Woodspring Worcester Worthing Wyre Forest York
Regional councils (Scotland)	Borders Central Dumfries and Galloway Fife Grampian Highland Lothian Orkney Shetland Strathclyde Tayside Western Isles
LEAs	Inner London Education Authority

1986 Reading Borough Council election

Ward results

By-elections 1986–1987

References

Related Articles