Farage’s Reform Party Beats Labour in Safe Seat, Takes Key Mayoral Race

After an early-morning recount at the DCBL stadium, Farage was jubilant, hailing a “huge night for Reform,” while Labour insisted by-elections are “always difficult for the party in government” and tried to shift attention to Conservative woes. Reform won by 12,645 votes to Labour’s 12,639.

“We are now the opposition party in the U.K. to Labour, and the Tories are a waste of space,” Farage told reporters in Runcorn.

The results have already sparked soul-searching in the governing Labour Party, swept to power in a landslide in July but now trailing Reform in some national polls.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters Friday morning that he “gets” the message from voters in Runcorn.

“We were elected in last year to bring about change,” he said, adding: “I am determined that we will go further and faster on the change that people want to see.”

Labour Party chairman Ellie Reeves was meanwhile in a fighting mood. “There’s been a lot of noise from Reform, a lot of hype from Reform, but actually people will now, I think, take a closer look at some of their policies,” she told Sky News.

Reform takes Greater Lincolnshire

The results of the by-election — held after the previous Labour MP was convicted of assaulting a constituent — came as the counts from a crop of local elections in England began to trickle in.

There were some limited scraps of relief for nervous Labour strategists panicked by the rise of Reform UK in the polls. Labour won key mayoral races in North Tyneside, the West of England and Doncaster — though Reform came second in all three.

But the closely-watched Greater Lincolnshire mayoral race saw Reform’s Andrea Jenkyns — a former Conservative MP who jumped ship — comfortably see off her Conservative and Labour opponents.

Jenkyns won the newly-created authority with 104,133 votes, with the Conservatives trailing on 64,585 votes and Labour a distant third.

In a highly-charged victory speech, Jenkyns took aim at the “negativity and soul-destroying” campaigning tactics of her opponents — and blasted asylum policies in what she called Labour’s “soft touch Britain.”

“Now that Reform is in a place of power, we can help start rebuilding Britain. Inch by inch, Reform will reset Britain to its glorious past,” she vowed.

“We will tackle illegal migration. We’ve been working on policies.

“I say no to putting people in hotels,” Jenkyns said. “Tents are good enough for France, they should be good enough for here in Britain.”

Tories brace

The Conservatives, in national government just last year before a kicking in the general election, are braced for a torrid day, amid calls in some parts of the party for a uniting of Britain’s right-wing electoral forces.

There are 22 local councils to be declared Friday afternoon, with the vast majority of the 1,641 council seats in contention still to be announced.

These seats were last fought in 2021, at the height of the then-Tory government’s bounce in popularity over a successful Covid vaccine program.

A Labour spokesperson said of the Runcorn result Friday morning: “By-elections are always difficult for the party in government and the events which led to this one being called made it even harder.

“Voters are still rightly furious with the state of the country after 14 years of failure and clearly expect the government to move faster.”

The Conservatives shot back in their own statement: “This result is a damning verdict on Keir Starmer’s leadership which has led to Labour losing a safe seat.”

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A jubilant Mr Farage hailed a “big moment” after nailbiting recounts in the Cheshire seat, with local elections seeing the insurgents rack up huge gains across England and spark panic in the two main parties.

It was the narrowest by-election win in modern British history, with Labour immediately descending into brutal recriminations over the loss of the stronghold.

Watched by Mr Farage, victorious candidate Sarah Pochin said the public was sending a message that “enough is enough”. “Enough Tory failure, enough Labour lies,” she said.

As results from yesterday’s contests flowed in, Reform’s Dame Andrea Jenkyns romped home as the first Greater Lincolnshire mayor with an enormous 40,000 majority over the Tories.

The party is also on track to control the county council, as its national poll surge is translated into real votes and real power.

Earlier, Reform only narrowly missed out on having a mayor in North Tyneside, cutting a Labour majority of almost 14,000 down to just 444.

It was a similar story in Doncaster, where Labour’s Ros Jones closed out Mr Farage’s party by just 698 votes. The Tories were in third, with the Right-wing parties together taking 57% of the vote. 

Ms Jones launched an extraordinary tirade at Sir Keir after the announcement, berating him for not “listening” to unrest over cuts to winter fuel allowance and the national insurance hike.

MPs quickly joined the demands for a change in direction from the premier.

Reform were also a shock second in the West of England, where Labour held the mayoralty in what was meant to be a two-horse race between them and the Greens.

In the coming hours Mr Farage’s outfit is expected to take hundreds of council seats surrendered by the Tories. The areas up for grabs are traditionally true-blue and were last decided at Boris Johnson’s peak in 2021.

On a momentous day for British politics:

• There is speculation the Tories and Reform could form a coalition in Northumberland after they won 26 and 23 seats on the council respectively from the 69 total;
• Polling guru Professor John Curtice suggested the two-party era was over after the first 124 wards gave Reform a vote share of 38%, the Conservatives 28% and Labour 18%;
• Mr Farage branded Sir Keir a “coward” for not campaigning in Runcorn, as Ministers admitted the public is “impatient” with the Government;
• The Reform leader said the party would end WFH in councils and introduce US-style ‘DOGE’ departments;
• Labour sources are concerned about the party’s Durham heartlands, with fears Reform could even end up in control of the council.

Worth reading in full.

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Featured image source: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/nigel-farages-reform-uk-party-ahead-by-four-votes-key-election-race-2025-05-02/

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