By Sasjkia Otto

The Conservatives have regained another pre-1997 stronghold in Reading West with a 12% swing.

Conservative Alok Sharma earned 43% of the vote in Reading West, 107th on the Tory target list, with a 6,004 vote majority.

Labour’s Naz Sarkar won 31% with 14,519 votes, down 4,421 votes from 2005.

Reading West was a safe Tory seat until the 1997 election when Labour won a relatively marginal victory. They had held onto the seat until this morning, increasing their majority in 2001 but seeing it slip in 2005.

Conservative campaigners felt they had an excellent chance of regaining this seat, as it was once a stronghold for them.