Another general election is almost upon us and the majority of the candidates have already been announced ahead of Thursday’s deadline.

As most of us know, the general election takes place next month, on December 12. What you may not know, and this is important, is that there will be two elections in Reading, with the town and surrounding areas split into two constituencies. Please note, in this article, we are endeavouring to maintain neutrality – a neutrality which, of course, a writer rarely really feels….

Reading East includes wards in Reading (Abbey, Caversham, Church, Katesgrove, Mapledurham, Park, Peppard, Redlands, and Thames) and Wokingham (Bulmershe and Whitegates, Loddon, and South Lake).

And our fab Reading West, which includes wards in Reading (Battle, Kentwood, Minster, Norcot, Southcote, Tilehurst, and Whitley) and West Berkshire (Birch Copse, Calcot, Pangbourne, Purley on Thames, Theale, and Westwood).

Below are the main candidates for Reading West…

Alok Sharma, Conservative
Alok Sharma (born 7 September 1967) is a British politician, serving as the Secretary of State for International Development since July 2019. He was elected in 2010 as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Reading West.

Sharma previously served as Housing Minister between 2017 and 2018, and as Employment Minister from 2018 to 2019.

Sharma is married and lives in Caversham with his wife and two daughters. His wife is Swedish.

Jamie Whitham, Green Party
Jamie Whitham is the Green Party candidate in the constituency of Reading West in the UK Parliament elections.

Jamie was born in Reading in 1974 attending Coley Park Primary School for a number of years from 1978. After a spell away from Reading in the 1980s he returned in 1995 to study Cybernetics and Control Engineering at The University of Reading.

Jamie joined the Green Party in 2010 after helping Reading’s first Green Councillor Rob White, to be elected.

In 2012 Jamie was elected as the third Green Party councillor on Reading Borough Council. During his four years on the council he sat on the Traffic Management Sub-Committee, Planning Applications Committee, Cycle Forum, Strategic Environment Planning & Transport Committee as well as others.

Jamie is a keen cyclist having recently completed a ride from the equator just north of Quito in Ecuador all the way to Ushuaia at the southern most tip of Argentina. We have to say, knowing this territory to some degree, that this is really, but really far…

Meri O’Connell, Liberal Democrat
Meri has a background in public service, working in children’s homes and as a Youth Justice Worker, helping young people find employment and training opportunities.

Elected as a councillor to Reading Borough Council in 2012, her campaigns have included making Tilehurst Triangle safer for pedestrians, and opposing the closure of the Arthur Clarke care home, where she successfully persuaded the council to ensure the land would only be used for elderly care.

Mr Sharma won 48.9 per cent of the vote in 2017, beating Labour challenger Olivia Bailey by just under 3,000 votes which makes this election much closer. One thing is – who ever you stand for (and think hard about your values and what kind of future you want for your country and all of it’s people), do make sure you vote!

Rachel Eden, Labour and Co-operative
Labour and Cooperative parliamentary candidate for Reading West constituency.
She is a councillor for Whitley ward, Reading and the lead councillor on Reading Borough Council for Adult Social Care.

Rachel Eden has experience of standing as a parliamentary candidate, after unsuccessfully fighting the Tory seat of Wantage last year is back this time moving to Reading west.

Watch this space for more, as we find out more through our investigations, on the above candidates! We will tell you the truths and facts that we find out, in what promises to be a rather, murky and manipulated election.