2026 Reading Borough Council election

2026 Reading Borough Council election
← 2024 7 May 2026 2027 (TBD) →
17 out of 48 seats to Reading Borough Council; 25 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	41.2% (9.2%)
	Winner of each seat at the 2026 Reading Borough Council election.
Leader before election; Liz Terry; Labour	Leader after election ; TBD; Labour

The 2026 Reading Borough Council election was held on 7 May 2026, alongside the other local elections across the United Kingdom being held on the same day, to elect 17 of 48 members of Reading Borough Council.^[3]

Quick facts 17 out of 48 seats to Reading Borough Council 25 seats needed for a majority, Turnout ...

Close

Of these, 16 seats are part of the regular election cycle, in which one-third of the council is elected in three out of every four years. The remaining seat is a vacancy in Caversham Heights, following the decision of councillor Sam Juthani to step down.^[4]

At 41.2%, turnout was the highest outside of a general election since the 1991 Reading Borough Council election. The Labour Party maintained an overall majority, continuing its rule of the council since 1986 (with the exception of 2010-2011). The Green Party gained its best-ever result, enlarging its group to double digits and defeating 3 Labour lead councillors. The Liberal Democrats retained their control of Tilehurst ward but failed to make inroads elsewhere. Despite its impressive performance nationally, Reform UK failed to have a breakthrough, losing its lone seat, which it had gained through a Conservative defection.

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2026 Reading Borough Council election^[2]
Party		This election			Full council			This election
Party		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Labour	7	3	41.2	22	29	60.4	15,300	29.2	–18.2
	Green	6	3	35.3	5	11	22.9	15,113	28.8	+8.0
	Conservative	3	2	17.6	2	5	10.4	9,179	17.4	–2.7
	Liberal Democrats	1		5.9	2	3	6.3	4,158	7.9	-2.4
	Reform	0	1	0.0	0	0	0.0	8,592	16.4	+15.9
	Independent	0	1	0.0	0	0	0.0	27	0.1	0.0
	Liberal	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	51	0.1	±0.0
	SDP	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	29	0.1	N/A
	TUSC	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	25	<0.0	-0.8

Ward	Incumbent councillor		Re-standing^[4]
Abbey	Karen Rowland	Labour	Yes
Battle	Sarah Hacker	Independent^[a]	No
Caversham	Jacopo Lanzoni	Labour	Yes
Caversham Heights	Isobel Ballsdon	Conservative	Yes
Caversham Heights	Sam Juthani	Labour	No^[b]
Church	Ruth McEwan	Labour	Yes
Coley	Ellie Emberson	Labour	Yes
Emmer Green	Clarence Mitchell	Reform^[c]	Yes
Katesgrove	Louise Keane	Green	Yes
Kentwood	Glenn Dennis	Labour	Yes
Norcot	Jo Lovelock	Labour	No
Park	Rob White	Green	Yes
Redlands	Kathryn McCann	Green	Yes
Southcote	Deborah Edwards	Labour	No
Thames	Adele Barnett-Ward	Labour	Yes
Tilehurst	Meri O'Connell	Liberal Democrats	Yes
Whitley	Rachel Eden	Labour	Yes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Jacqueline Dominquez	792	37.6	+24.1
	Labour	Karen Rowland*	683	32.5	−11.7
	Conservative	Robert Dalton	279	13.3	−18.7
	Reform	Paul N/Aton	202	9.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Henry Wright	139	6.6	−3.0
	TUSC	James Morgan	9	0.4	N/A
Majority			109	5.1	N/A
Turnout			2,109	32.3	+4.5
Registered electors			6,512
	Green gain from Labour		Swing	17.9

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Pratikshya Gurung	1,180	41.4	−22.4
	Green	Zoe Mann	998	35.0	+15.9
	Reform	Diana Whitehouse	335	11.8	N/A
	Conservative	Ben Blackmore	207	7.3	−3.1
	Liberal Democrats	John Grout	118	4.1	−2.6
Majority			182	6.4	−38.3
Turnout			2,851	38.2	+11.4
Registered electors			7,470
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing	19.2

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jacopo Lanzoni*	1,438	38.4	−16.8
	Green	Sam Wild	920	24.5	+9.3
	Reform	Jeff Lewis	600	16.0	N/A
	Conservative	Andrew Ballsdon	549	14.6	−2.4
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Spencer	225	6.0	−4.5
	SDP	Bill Runacre	16	0.4	N/A
Majority			518	13.8	−24.4
Turnout			3,761	49.9	+11.5
Registered electors			7,608
	Labour hold		Swing	13.1

2026 Reading Borough Council election

Council composition

Summary

Background

Election result

Incumbents

Ward results

Abbey

Battle

Caversham

Caversham Heights

Church

Coley

Emmer Green

Katesgrove

Kentwood

Norcot

Park

Redlands

Southcote

Thames

Tilehurst

Whitley

Notes

References

Related Articles

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Isobel Ballsdon*	1,900	44.2	+9.5
	Conservative	Saadia Saadat	1,218	28.3	−6.4
	Labour	Richard Stainthorp	1,088	25.3	−15.9
	Labour	Jo Musominari	1,058	24.6	−16.6
	Green	Danny McNamara	866	20.1	+2.6
	Green	Adil Khan	761	17.7	+0.2
	Reform	James Stothard	580	13.5	N/A
	Reform	Ilayda Molloy	496	11.5	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Jo Ramsay	416	9.7	−15.2
	Liberal Democrats	Vania Costa-Krol	271	6.3	−0.3
Turnout			4,302	57.3	+11.6
Registered electors			7,507
	Conservative hold
	Conservative gain from Labour

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ruth McEwan*	1,095	39.4	−19.7
	Reform	Matthew Reynolds	680	24.5	N/A
	Green	Jamie Whitham	468	16.8	+4.3
	Conservative	Adam Phelps	362	13.0	−8.6
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Cole	163	5.9	−0.9
Majority			415	14.9	−22.6
Turnout			2,780	34.0	+8.7
Registered electors			8,174
	Labour hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Richard Walkem	973	33.4	+20.6
	Labour	Ellie Emberson*	964	33.1	−21.7
	Reform	Petru Mereacre	445	15.3	N/A
	Conservative	John Angus	367	12.6	−7.1
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Ward	166	5.7	−2.7
Majority			9	0.3	−34.7
Turnout			2,915	52.6	+21.0
Registered electors			7,835
	Green gain from Labour		Swing	21.2

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alex Smith	1,143	27.8	–8.9
	Green	Hannah Conibear	1,103	26.8	+13.5
	Reform	Clarence Mitchell*	805	19.6	N/A
	Labour	Ollie White	770	18.7	–22.1
	Liberal Democrats	Nishikant Gupta	290	7.1	–2.1
Majority			40	1.0	N/A
Turnout			4,117	52.6	+15.4
Registered electors			7,835
	Conservative gain from Reform		Swing	11.2

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Louise Keane*	1,340	50.8	+6.1
	Labour	Richard Wong	604	22.9	–13.9
	Conservative	Matthew Callow	281	10.6	+0.3
	Reform	Prabhdeep Singh	279	10.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Dobson	109	4.1	–0.8
	Independent	Jean Pascual	27	1.0	–0.2
Majority			736	27.9	+20.0
Turnout			2,653	35.0	+5.1
Registered electors			7,591
	Green hold		Swing	10.0

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Glenn Dennis*	1,014	32.4	–15.7
	Conservative	David Milne-Buckley	775	24.8	–11.3
	Reform	Stephen Ruston	736	23.5	N/A
	Green	Tim Liddle	476	15.2	+5.0
	Liberal Democrats	Jibril al-Nabahani	127	4.1	–1.6
Majority			239	7.6	–4.4
Turnout			3,133	46.6	+11.3
Registered electors			6,720
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	2.2

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alison Foster	967	35.4	–15.0
	Reform	Oliver Maunder	641	23.5	+15.2
	Green	Isobel Hoskins	558	20.4	+10.5
	Conservative	Kes Williams	293	10.7	–3.3
	Liberal Democrats	Brandon Masih	221	8.1	–5.8
	Liberal	Stephen Graham	51	1.9	+0.1
Majority			326	11.9	–24.5
Turnout			2,744	36.1	+7.4
Registered electors			7,598
	Labour hold		Swing	15.1

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Rob White*	1,872	65.2	+7.6
	Labour	James Cuggy	591	20.6	–13.0
	Reform	Stephen Ham	190	6.6	N/A
	Conservative	Kris Lund	149	5.2	–0.6
	Liberal Democrats	Jassien Sabri	71	2.5	–0.1
Majority			1,281	44.6	+20.6
Turnout			2,886	42.8	+4.4
Registered electors			6,741
	Green hold		Swing	10.3

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Kathryn McCann*	1,549	54.8	+0.9
	Labour Co-op	Roy Rangarirai	708	25.0	–8.6
	Reform	Darren Seward	254	9.0	N/A
	Conservative	Abdoulaye Sow	179	6.3	–0.3
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Wilson	122	4.3	+0.6
	TUSC	Melanie Dent	16	0.6	–0.9
Majority			841	29.8	+9.5
Turnout			2,838	40.2	+7.4
Registered electors			7,065
	Green hold		Swing	4.8

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ulrike Magyarosy	1,032	36.0	–23.6
	Reform	Bev Heslin	623	21.7	N/A
	Green	Rosemary Croft	614	21.4	+10.5
	Conservative	Grace Blackmore	408	14.2	–5.1
	Liberal Democrats	Benjamin Sims	188	6.6	–2.7
Majority			409	14.3	–26.0
Turnout			2,875	37.1	+7.9
Registered electors			7,741
	Labour hold

Tilehurst
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Meri O'Connell*	1,144	38.4	–13.7
	Reform	Steven Low	763	25.6	N/A
	Labour	Caroline Basden	439	14.7	–6.4
	Green	Caroline Hearst	343	11.5	+4.7
	Conservative	Raihana Rahimi	288	9.7	–9.5
Majority			381	12.8	–18.2
Turnout			2,985	41.3	+10.0
Registered electors			7,235
	Liberal Democrats hold

Whitley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Rachel Eden*	919	34.6	–23.1
	Reform	Richie Sahni	612	23.0	N/A
	Conservative	Vani Goel	473	17.8	–3.3
	Green	Kathy Smith	449	16.9	+7.4
	Liberal Democrats	Pieter de Boiserie	205	7.7	–1.5
Majority			307	11.6	–24.9
Turnout			2,668	32.0	+8.3
Registered electors			8,346
	Labour Co-op hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	David Clarke	1,031	39.1	+22.8
	Labour	Adele Barnett-Ward*	750	28.5	–24.1
	Reform	Alexander Kelly	351	13.3	N/A
	Conservative	Jaykumar Patel	308	11.7	–6.8
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Burden	183	6.9	–5.3
	SDP	James Halls	13	0.5	N/A
Majority			250	10.6	N/A
Turnout			2,640	42.4	+10.5
Registered electors			6,226
	Green gain from Labour		Swing	23.5