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1984 Reading Borough Council election

The 1984 Reading Borough Council election was held on 3 May 1984, 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 1984 Reading Borough Council election was held on 3 May 1984, 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' majority on the council reduced to just one seat. After the election, the Conservatives had 23 seats, Labour had 17 seats, and the SDP-Liberal Alliance had 5 seats.

The leader of the Conservative group was Deryck Morton, and the leader of the Labour group was Mike Orton, both remaining in post after the election. The Liberal leader on the council prior to the election was Basil Dunning, but he was replaced immediately after the election by former leader Jim Day, who had lost his seat in 1983 but regained it at this election.

Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
6	0	3	-3	40.0	42.4	16,843	-3.7
8	4	0	+4	53.3	33.5	13,286	+3.6
1	0	1	-1	6.7	23.2	9,216	-0.1
0				0.0	0.9	363	+0.1

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):

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	.mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}±%
	Labour	1,285	57.7	+5.3
	Conservative	628	28.2	−3.4
	Liberal	314	14.1	+0.8
2,227
	Labour hold	+4.35

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	927	44.5	+4.2
	Conservative	806	38.7	+0.9
	Liberal	281	13.5	−8.5
	Ecology	69	3.3	n/a
2,083
	Labour gain from Conservative	+1.65

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	1,907	64.8	−2.9
	Labour	720	24.4	+3.5
	Liberal	318	10.8	−0.7
2,945
	Conservative hold	-3.2

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	1,053	49.2	+5.1
	Conservative	758	35.4	−1.2
	Liberal	328	15.3	−3.9
2,139
	Labour hold	+3.15

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	1,030	50.7	+5.4
	Conservative	680	33.5	−10.7
	SDP	267	13.2	+5.4
	Ecology	53	2.6	−0.1
2,030
	Labour hold	+8.05

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	1,190	40.0	−2.6
	Liberal	865	30.8	+2.6
	Labour	704	23.6	0.0
2,978
	Conservative hold	-2.6

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	1,464	54.6	−4.4
	Labour	805	30.0	+4.0
	SDP	411	15.3	+0.4
2,680
	Conservative hold	-4.2

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	1,024	40.8	+7.7
	Liberal	1,008	40.2	+0.3
	Conservative	476	19.0	−8.0
2,508
	Labour gain from Liberal	+4.0

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	1,388	44.2	+9.7
	Conservative	1,211	38.5	−1.1
	SDP	424	13.5	−8.5
	Ecology	120	3.8	−0.1
3,143
	Labour gain from Conservative	+5.4

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	1,859	62.6	+3.8
	SDP	717	24.1	−8.0
	Labour	394	13.3	+4.2
2,970
	Conservative hold	+5.9

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	1,053	37.3	+5.7
	Conservative	963	34.1	−4.3
	SDP	687	24.3	−2.7
	Ecology	121	4.3	+1.4
2,824
	Labour gain from Conservative	+5.0

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	1,307	45.7	−5.8
	Labour	951	33.3	+1.6
	SDP	599	21.0	+4.2
2,857
	Conservative hold	-5.0

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	2,045	60.3	−6.5
	Liberal	935	27.6	+5.8
	Labour	411	12.1	+0.6
3,391
	Conservative hold	-6.15

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	1,681	55.1	+8.4
	Conservative	993	32.6	−7.0
	Labour	376	12.3	−0.9
3,050
	Liberal hold	+7.7

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	1,165	61.9	+2.8
	Conservative	556	29.5	−0.6
	SDP	162	8.6	−2.2
1,883
	Labour hold	+1.7

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	909	52.0	+2.7
	Conservative	439	25.1	−10.3
	Liberal	401	22.9	+7.6
470	26.9
1,749	26.5
	Labour hold	+6.5

The Church ward by-election in 1984 was triggered by the resignation of Labour councillor Dave Absolom.

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	908	43.3	−1.2
	SDP	719	34.3	+20.8
	Conservative	421	20.1	−18.6
189	9.0
2,097	31.5
	Labour hold	-11.0

The Battle ward by-election in 1985 was triggered by the death of Labour councillor Joe Bristow.

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