Reform UK is anticipating major gains as the local election results come in, after winning the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by just six votes.
Nigel Farage said it had been a “huge night” for his party, after Reform snatched the safe seat from Labour following a dramatic recount, and is gearing up for more wins in the local elections.
Sarah Pochin became Reform’s fifth MP after winning 12,645 votes, beating Labour’s Karen Shore, who won 12,639 votes.
Polling expert Sir John Curtice said the result showed Farage’s party is “in business” in what is expected to be a successful set of local results for Reform – largely at the expense of Labour and the Tories.
Tory party co-chairman Nigel Huddleston said that while his party had expected a bad night in the local elections, it had been “a terrible night for Labour”.
He told Sky News: “Our key job as His Majesty’s opposition is to hold this disastrous Labour Government to account on the terrible policies that they are implementing and on that actually, that resonated well on the doorsteps.”
Reform also added dozens of councillors in local elections across the UK and won its first mayoral election in Greater Lincolnshire with former Tory minister Andrea Jenkyns victorious.
“It’s been a huge night for Reform,” Farage said after the Runcorn victory. “It’s the closest by-election since the war… but I sense, also, one of the most significant.”
Local elections were held on Thursday across 24 of 316 councils in England, with people voting for six mayors and 1,750 councillors.
Follow the live blog from Yahoo News for all the latest local election updates:
Live38 updates
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What are the results so far?
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Reform has won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by just six votes, ousting Labour
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Reform has also taken 79 council seats to date, making it the frontrunner
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Labour has won the mayoral races in North Tyneside, the West of England and Doncaster
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Dame Andrea Jenkyns has secured a Reform mayoral win in Greater Lincolnshire
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Councillor Ros Jones, who held onto her Doncaster mayoral seat, said the elections show Keir Starmer’s government needs to listen to voters
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Speaking on the win, Farage told Badenoch to ‘stay in power’ so Reform can build on its success, and called Starmer ‘a coward’
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Speaking on its loss, Labour said “change takes time”
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- Fri 2 May 2025 at 3:28 am GMT-7Who is yet to declare?
Local election results are pouring in today, and will be declared into the evening.
While a spate of results are already known, there are still several councils yet to declare their results.
Only one council, Northumberland, has so far declared all its results, with Reform making gains at the expense of both Labour and the Conservatives.
Two further mayoral contests, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and Hull and East Yorkshire, are also due to declare on Friday afternoon.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 3:18 am GMT-7 Labour criticised from within own ranks after early local election results
Labour figures have hit out at the party’s decisions in Government in the wake of the party’s first local election results.
Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin beat Sir Keir Starmer’s candidate Karen Shore by six votes in the Runcorn & Helsby by-election, taking the seat which Labour won with a majority of almost 14,700 less than a year ago.
Elsewhere, Labour narrowly retained mayoralties in both Doncaster and North Tyneside, with Reform coming a close second in both.
Read the full story from PA.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 3:12 am GMT-7Who is Dame Andrea Jenkyns?
Dame Andrea Jenkyns of Reform (Getty)
Dame Andrea Jenkyns has become Reform’s first regional mayor after a resounding victory in the new Greater Lincolnshire authority.
The 50-year-old, who joined the party from the Conservatives in November, won 42.0% of the vote, comfortably clear of the Tories in second place on 26.1% with a majority of almost 40,000.
In a controversial speech following her victory, she said there would be “an end to soft touch Britain” while on immigration she would “say no to putting people in hotels”, instead suggesting tents were “good enough”.
A staunch supporter of Brexit and Boris Johnson, she submitted no-confidence letters in both former prime ministers Theresa May and Rishi Sunak.
There was considerable reaction from teachers’ leaders shortly after when Jenkyns made an “obscene gesture” to the public outside Downing Street, as she went to watch Johnson’s resignation speech.
Jenkyns was given a damehood in Johnson’s resignation honours list in June 2023.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 2:59 am GMT-7Voices: How the Brexit vote is still realigning British politics
OPINION: One of the many remarkable features of a remarkable set of elections is that virtually nowhere in the various councils and mayoralties – nor in the razor-edge by-election in Runcorn – has there been a traditional straight fight between Labour and Conservatives, writes Sean O’Grady for The Independent.
Instead, it’s been, most commonly, Labour versus Reform, sometimes the Tories trying to compete with Nigel Farage’s insurgents, and some scraps in the south and west of England between the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.
Read the full story from The Independent.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 2:56 am GMT-7Ed Davey hands out ice creams to thank voters in Shropshire
Sir Ed Davey under a Winner’s Enclosure sign whilst on the local election campaign trail (Getty)
Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey is handing out ice creams in Shrewsbury town centre this morning to thank voters for their support.
In his first comments since polls closed last night, Sir Ed tells reporters he is feeling “confident” about the result for Shropshire Council which is expected this afternoon, where the local council has been run by the Conservatives for the last 16 years.
The BBC reported that Davey told one punter “the ice cream is melting just like the Conservative’s support”.
Davey, known for his playful electioneering antics, has bungee jumped, ridden rollercoasters and taken part in an obstacle course to secure votes.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 2:45 am GMT-7Labour must return to “a Labour-economic plan”, own MP says
Rachael Maskell addresses delegates on the first day of the Labour Party Conference in 2016 (Getty)
Rachael Maskell is the latest Labour MP to call for a “return to a Labour-economic plan” amid anger over PIP cuts after last night’s by-election loss.
The former shadow employment secretary told The Times: “As we saw in July last year, people are desperate to find hope in politics, and if Labour fails to provide and protect, then people will look in other places.
“Only Labour can secure the agenda that people need, but this means the current economic agenda has got to return to a Labour-economic plan which redistributes wealth, protects the vulnerable and provides greater opportunity for all.”
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 2:42 am GMT-7Reform is ‘now the main opposition party’ – Farage
Nigel Farage reacts as Reform Party candidate Sarah Pochin is declared the winner (Getty)
Nigel Farage has said that Reform UK are “now the main opposition party” to the government after his party’s victories in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election and other local election contests.
The Reform leader said that they “dug very deep into the Labour vote” in the Cheshire constituency and have “dug very deep into the Conservative vote” in other parts of England.
Farage told the PA news agency: “It’s been a big night for us. We’ve dug very deep into the Labour vote and, in other parts of England, we’ve dug deep into the Conservative vote, and we are now, after tonight there’s no question, in most of the country, we are now the main opposition party to this government.”
Sarah Pochin’s victory in Runcorn takes Reform’s number of seats in the Commons up to five.
Five MPs were elected for the party last year, but the whip has since been suspended from Rupert Lowe.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 2:30 am GMT-7Labour’s defeat was ‘entirely avoidable’ – Labour MP
Labour’s defeat in Runcorn was “entirely avoidable” and “the direct result of the party leadership’s political choices”, the former shadow justice secretary said.
Richard Burgon, the MP for Leeds East, called for the Labour leadership to “urgently change course” in a post on X.
“Labour’s defeat in Runcorn was entirely avoidable — and is the direct result of the party leadership’s political choices,” he wrote.
“By pushing policies like cuts to disability benefits and scrapping the winter fuel allowance, the leadership is driving away our own voters — and letting Reform squeeze through.
Labour’s defeat in Runcorn was entirely avoidable — and is the direct result of the party leadership’s political choices.
By pushing policies like cuts to disability benefits and scrapping the winter fuel allowance, the leadership is driving away our own voters — and letting…
— Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) May 2, 2025
“The Labour leadership must urgently change course and govern with real Labour values to deliver the change people are crying out for.”
Burgon joins a number of Labour politicians calling for change following the by-election defeat.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 2:15 am GMT-7UK turning to ‘five-party system’, Greens say
Co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Adrian Ramsay (Alamy)
The UK is turning to “a five-party system”, with voters “looking for an alternative” to Labour and the Tories, the co-leader of the Greens has said.
Co-leader Adrian Ramsey has spoken on the party’s success, like winning the local council by-election in Lambeth, south London.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Ramsey said he is “confident” the party will get a record number of councillors in the 2025 local elections.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 2:00 am GMT-7Doncaster mayor puts Labour’s performance down to PIP and winter fuel allowance cuts
Labour’s Doncaster mayor has spoken candidly today about what she thinks are the reasons for her party’s lacklustre performance at the local elections.
Ros Jones, who was narrowly re-elected as mayor of Doncaster, puts the close shave down to the government limiting who is eligible for the winter fuel allowance, making cuts to disability benefit PIP and its national insurance increases.
She said: “I wrote as soon as the winter fuel allowance was actually mooted, and I said it was wrong, and therefore I stepped in immediately and used our household support fund to ensure no-one in Doncaster went cold during the winter.”
The increase in national insurance was “hitting some of our smaller businesses” and the squeeze on the personal independence payment was leaving many people “worried”, Jones added.
She added: “I think the results here tonight will demonstrate that they need to be listening to the man, woman and businesses on the street, and actually deliver for the people, with the people.”
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 1:48 am GMT-7Guide to every council and mayoral contest
Ros Jones of the Labour Party after being declared the winner of the Doncaster Mayoral elections (Getty)
A total of 1,641 council seats are up for grabs across 23 local authorities, while four regional mayors and two local mayors will be elected.
Most of the council seats were last contested in May 2021, at a time when the then-Conservative government, led by former prime minister Boris Johnson, was enjoying a spike in popularity following the successful rollout of the first Covid-19 vaccines.
Look at the state of play in every council and mayoral contest.
Read more from PA.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 1:44 am GMT-7Reform’s Runcorn victory shows Labour must ‘change course’, says Labour MP
Labour MP Brian Leishman has said the by-election result in Runcorn and Helsby “shows Labour must change course”.
In a post on X on Friday morning, the MP for Alloa and Grangemouth said: “Runcorn shows Labour must change course.
“People voted for real change last July & an end to austerity.
“The first 10 months haven’t been good enough or what the people want & if we don’t improve people’s living standards then the next government will be an extreme right wing one.”
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 1:26 am GMT-7 What are Reform UK’s key policies, from immigration to taxes?
Reform UK has secured a dramatic by-election victory by six votes over Labour in Runcorn and Helsby as a former Tory minister became the party’s first elected mayor.
In one of the closest parliamentary votes ever, new MP Sarah Pochin took the seat that Labour won with a majority of almost 14,700 less than a year ago.
The knife-edge result came after weeks in which Reform has been surging in popularity in nationwide polls and, in the first major electoral test since the 2024 general election, the party showed it is a force to be reckoned with.
Read the full story from Yahoo News.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 1:22 am GMT-7What happens next? Hour-by-hour guide to results
Reform’s mayoral candidate for Hull, Olympic boxer Luke Campbell, with Nigel Farage (Getty)
Want to know what lies ahead? Here’s what the next few hours should look like.
Counting begins for the remaining two mayoral contests in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough and Hull & East Yorkshire.
The full result is due from Durham, where Labour hopes to regain control after being shut out by a multi-party coalition
The result is due for the new Hull & East Yorkshire mayor.
The pace begins to pick up with three councils due to finish declaring.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 1:08 am GMT-7Kemi Badenoch’s position ‘is solid’, Tories say
Kemi Badenoch’s party has taken a beating in the local elections. (PA via Getty)
All eyes are on Labour following its Runcorn by-election defeat – but the Conservatives have also experienced major losses at the hands of Reform.
The party has lost 62 seats so far this local election, following gains from Nigel Farage’s party.
Asked on BBC Breakfast if Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s position was secure after the local election results, party co-chairman Nigel Huddleston said: “Kemi’s position is certainly solid.
“She’s only been leader for six months and she was out and about right across the country, and I can tell you this, everywhere we went, people wanted to see her more and hear more from her.”
“She’s very sensible, she’s very honest, she’s very straightforward.
“She doesn’t go around telling people what they want to hear. That’s the easy route in politics.”
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 1:02 am GMT-7Staffordshire County Council going turquoise blue
Reform looks likely to sweep Staffordshire County Council, beating the Conservatives to the post.
Reform has won 24 of the 30 seats that have been declared so far.
The Tories have clinched the remaining six.
There are 32 seats still to be counted before the election result will be declared.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 12:52 am GMT-7Labour MP says Runcorn shows government ‘must change course’
Labour MP Brian Leishman has said the by-election result in Runcorn and Helsby “shows Labour must change course”.
In a post on X on Friday morning, the MP for Alloa and Grangemouth said: “Runcorn shows Labour must change course.
“People voted for real change last July & an end to austerity.
Runcorn shows Labour must change course. People voted for real change last July & an end to austerity. The first 10 months haven’t been good enough or what the people want & if we don’t improve people’s living standards then the next government will be an extreme right wing one.
— Brian Leishman (@BrianLeishmanMP) May 2, 2025
“The first 10 months haven’t been good enough or what the people want & if we don’t improve people’s living standards then the next government will be an extreme right wing one.”
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 12:46 am GMT-7How many councillors does each party have so far?
With all the buzz around Runcorn, you wouldn’t be mistaken for thinking today is just about the by-election.
A number of local election councils are up for grabs in English constituencies – 23 to be exact.
Here’s what each party is polling at so far.
Number of councillors:
Reform – 79
Conservatives – 37
Labour – 11
Independents – 7
Liberal Democrats – 5
Greens – 2
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 12:40 am GMT-7How many seats Reform UK have won in the local elections
Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin and party leader Nigel Farage (PA via Getty)
Votes are being counted across England following the local elections 2025.
A total of 1,641 council seats were up for grabs across 23 local authorities in this year’s election, while four regional mayors and two local mayors are also being elected.
Overnight Reform won another seat in Parliament after claiming victory in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, in what is one of the closest parliamentary votes ever.
Read more from Manchester Evening News.
- Fri 2 May 2025 at 12:33 am GMT-7A ‘bad night’ for the Conservatives was a ‘terrible night for Labour’
Nigel Huddleston spoke to the press about the Conservatives’ performance (PA Images via Getty)
What was a bad night for the Conservatives was “a terrible night for Labour”, the Tory party’s co-chairman has said.
Quizzed on the Conservatives’ significant losses over the local election, Nigel Huddleston said: “People do recognise that we’re doing that, but these local elections were always going to be tough, and it’s not a surprise that Reform won in Lincolnshire or indeed in Runcorn.
“In fact, actually, I thought they would have won by more in Runcorn.”