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Louise Thomas
Editor
Reform made gains in hundreds of seats across the country at last week’s general election, voting data shows.
Though Nigel Farage’s right-wing challenger party only won five seats in parliament, Reform took 14 per cent of the national vote — exceeding the Lib Dems at 12 per cent.
Reform made significant headway in over 100 seats, despite problems that arose with several candidates, many of whom were chosen in a scramble before the deadline.
Reform gained over 19 per cent of the vote in 102 seats, spread over the country but largely concentrated in East Anglia and the Midlands.
Crucially, Reform’s largest 100 swings in vote share are all in formerly Conservative seats.
Reform came second in at least 55 seats, largely those where Labour won; ousting the Conservatives from a possible second place.
Interestingly, the Lib Dems did not win any of the seats where Reform had the largest swings, suggesting that they successfully targeted distinct demographic areas.
In fact, some of the highest swings in favour of Reform correlate to huge drops in the Conservative vote, as shown below.
In Clacton, where Mr Farage won a seat for the first time, Reform took 46.2 per cent of the vote; while the Conservatives lost 44 per cent. The numbers are similarly comparable in all five Reform seats.
In those five Reform seats, however, the strength of MP’s majorities varies greatly.
On the highest end, Mr Farage holds 18.3 per cent over the Conservatives, while Reform’s majority in Great Yarmouth is only 3.5 per cent over Labour.
Meanwhile, Reform MP James McMurdock won South Basildon and Thurrock by just 98 votes (0.2 per cent).
