Nigel Farage sent shockwaves through the political establishment yesterday.
In a stunning breakthrough, Reform seized control of a string of major councils across the country – and inflicted a humiliating defeat on Labour in a by-election in the previously safe seat of Runcorn and Helsby.
Mr Farage last night hailed his party’s performance as a ‘Reform-quake’ and claimed it signalled ‘the end of two-party politics’.
He said Reform had had ‘the Labour Party for lunch’ and ‘wiped out’ the Conservatives in parts of England.
Mr Farage said the results marked ‘the beginning of the end’ for the Conservative Party, with Reform now ‘the main opposition party’ despite having just five MPs.
Projections suggested the results would put Mr Farage on course to be Prime Minister if they were repeated at a General Election.
Polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice said: ‘The big question we were asking ourselves was: Are Reform posing a major challenge to the traditional dominance of British politics by Conservatives and Labour?
‘Is that challenge really there? And I think we now know that the answer to that question is yes.’
Labour and the Tories were both on track last night to lose around two-thirds of the seats they were defending.
From a standing start, Reform won more than 650 seats – similar to the number lost by the Conservatives.
Labour, which was defending far fewer seats, looked set to lose around 200.
The Tories lost control of every council they were defending including some in heartland areas such as Kent.
In Durham, which Labour held for more than a century until recently, the party was left with just four seats out of 98 as Reform swept to power.
The results leave Reform in control of some of England’s biggest authorities, putting the party’s novice councillors in charge of budgets totalling billions.
Sir Keir Starmer said he was ‘disappointed’ by the results, but insisted he understood the reasons for voters’ disaffection and would respond. ‘I get it,’ he said. ‘We must deliver that change even more quickly. We must go even further.’
Kemi Badenoch apologised to hundreds of Tory councillors who lost their seats. She said ‘protest is in the air’ against both main parties and acknowledged she faced ‘a big job to do to rebuild trust with the public’.
However, writing in this newspaper, Boris Johnson said the results were ‘no earthquake’ and insisted the Tories under Mrs Badenoch have a ‘good and growing’ chance of winning the next election because the Labour Government is ‘so bad’.
Nigel Farage sent shockwaves through the political establishment yesterday. In a stunning breakthrough, Reform seized control of a string of major councils across the country – and inflicted a humiliating defeat on Labour in a by-election in the previously safe seat of Runcorn and Helsby
The Reform surge began at 6am when Sarah Pochin (pictured) won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by just six votes
Mr Farage branded Sir Keir a ‘coward’ for failing to campaign in what had been one of Labour’s 50 safest seats until MP Mike Amesbury was forced to quit after assaulting a constituent on a drunken night out
Kemi Badenoch apologised to hundreds of Tory councillors who lost their seats. She said ‘protest is in the air’ against both main parties and acknowledged she faced ‘a big job to do to rebuild trust with the public’
On a dramatic day:
- Mr Farage said Reform-led councils would ban working from home, slash waste and resist Government efforts to house Channel migrants in local hotels.
- Sir Keir faced a Labour backlash as even those who were victorious blamed public anger over cuts to winter fuel payments and benefits for the disastrous results across the board.
- Labour sources said the PM was drawing up plans for a crackdown on illegal migration in a bid to neuter Reform’s appeal.
- Sir Ed Davey said the Lib Dems were now ‘the party of Middle England’ after taking control of Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Shropshire and gaining more than 140 seats.
- Senior Tories rallied round Mrs Badenoch, with former rival Robert Jenrick saying it was ‘complete nonsense’ to suggest he would be doing a better job.
- Reform’s newly elected Lincolnshire mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns used her victory speech to call for asylum seekers living in hotels to be rehoused in tents.
- The Greens hailed a new era of ‘five-party politics’ after gaining more than 40 seats and taking 11 per cent of the projected vote.
- Mr Farage hit out at Labour’s ‘lunatic Net Zero policies’ as Reform took control of Doncaster Council in Ed Miliband’s political backyard.
The Reform surge began at 6am when Sarah Pochin won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by just six votes.
Mr Farage branded Sir Keir a ‘coward’ for failing to campaign in what had been one of Labour’s 50 safest seats until MP Mike Amesbury was forced to quit after assaulting a constituent on a drunken night out.
Addressing activists in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, Mr Farage said council staff ‘working on climate change, diversity initiatives or…. who think that you go on working from home, I think you all better be seeking alternative careers very, very quickly.’
He said Reform councils would also ‘resist’ asylum seekers being ‘dumped into the north of England, getting everything for free’.
Speaking later to newly elected councillors in Staffordshire, Mr Farage said: ‘It is a seismic change in British politics.
‘It is of a proportion nobody could even have dreamt of. We want our country back, we want to re-establish the right values around family, community and country.’
