Nigel Farage’s Reform has this afternoon taken control of seven councils, just hours after dramatically beating Labour in a by-election for Runcorn and Helsby.
The party has taken overall majority of Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, Kent and Nottinghamshire councils, which were all previously Tory-run. Reform has also taken control of Durham County Council, where Labour was previously the biggest party.
The local council victories come after Reform’s Sarah Pochin won the Runcorn and Helsby seat, overcoming a Labour majority of more than 14,000 a year ago.
Meanwhile, former Conservative minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns was elected for Reform UK as the first Greater Lincolnshire mayor with a majority of almost 40,000 over her former party.
Speaking from Durham this afternoon, Mr Farage declared today the “beginning of the end of the Conservative Party”.
In three of the other six mayoral contests, Labour took Doncaster, North Tyneside and West of England with the Tories coming third in each. Results are still to come in for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and Hull and East Yorkshire.
Across the local councils the BBC report that Reform has gained 470 councillors. The Conservatives have lost 433, Labour 121.
Earlier, Conservative co-chairman Nigel Huddleston defended leader Kemi Badenoch. Speaking on Good Morning Britain, he said: “We took an absolute drubbing at last year’s general election, we lost two-thirds of MPs, and we unfortunately were anticipating pretty big losses today.”
Farage: Reform will ‘resist’ having migrants placed in counties it controls
Nigel Farage has said that Reform will “resist” having migrants placed “in these counties that we now control”.
Speaking from County Durham on Friday afternoon, the Reform UK leader said: “The number of people I’ve met in the north, just so enraged because they get up early in the morning, they go to work, they pay their taxes, and they see young men crossing the English Channel, being dumped into the north of England getting everything for free.”
He later added: “It is unfair, it is irresponsible, it is wrong in every way and I don’t believe Starmer has got the guts to deal with it but (…) we at national level have got the guts to deal with it and we will resist central government plonking scores, hundreds of these young men in these counties that we now control.”
Election results: Where we stand and what is to come
As dawn broke today, the country woke up to headlines of a Reform victory in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, overturning a Labour majority of nearly 15,000 votes from less than a year ago.
Nigel Farage hailed the result – but it’s not the only to emerge with yesterday also seeing six mayoral contests and 24 local council elections.
Here are the results we have so far:
Mayoral elections:
North Tyneside – Labour hold with Karen Clark beating the second-placed Reform candidate by just 444 votes
Doncaster – Labour hold with Ros Jones seeing off the second-placed Reform candidate by 698 votes.
West of England – Labour hold with Helen Godwin coming ahead of the second-placed Reform candidates by 5,949 votes.
Greater Lincolnshire – Reform win with Dame Andrew Jenkyns beating the second-placed Tory candidate by almost 40,000 votes.
Local councils:
Northumberland and Warwickshire councils – No overal control
Durham, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, Kent and Nottinghamshire councils: Reform wins control
Councillors (gains/losses):
Reform: +470
Conservative: -433
Labour: -121
Independent: -21
Lib Dem: +81
Green: +25
Farage says Reform backers have ‘cleared a very important hurdle’
Following news of Reform claiming control of a seventh local council, leader Nigel Farage addressed supporters, and the media, in Durham.
He says: “We now have the most expensive energy in the world because of lunatic net zero polices that are deindustrialising Britain.
“Let’s be clear: we want to produce our own gas, our own oil, make our own steel, make our own copper wire.
“We want to reindustrialise Britain, reindustrialise the north and give men and women well-paid skilled jobs and a sense of pride in their community and what they do.
“We can’t do that from Durham County Council, but we can set the markers on how we intend to govern.
“You have cleared a very important hurdle today. And next year we’ll clear those hurdles in the Welsh and Scottish parliamentary elections and I believe, as I think you believe, we really will make history and win the next general election.”
Reform takes control of its seventh local council
It’s just been confirmed that Reform has won control of Kent by taking 45 seats on the council – well over the threshold of 41 needed for a majority.
Liberal Democrats had 11 seats, Labour two, Greens one and Conservatives one, in a council which they previously controlled with 56 councillors.
Nigel Farage says Reform UK had had “the Labour Party for lunch” and “wiped out” the Conservatives in parts of England as local election results rolled in.
Farage warns council staff to look for other jobs
The Reform leader had a message for anyone working in a host of roles for Durham council, which his party is now in control of.
These include those with working on climate change, diversity initiatives or even just from home.
“You all better be seeking alternative careers very, very quickly” he told a victory rally in Durham.
Nigel Farage has said Reform had ‘the Labour party for lunch’
The Reform leader has told a crowd in Durham that his party has had “the Labour party for lunch”.
He also claimed the local election results marked “the end of two party politics as we know it”.
And he said it was the “beginning of the end of the Conservative Party” which he said had been “wiped out” in the shires of England.
Reform seizes control of three more councils
More wins for Reform UK…..
The party has taken control of Lancashire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire councils.
In Lancashire, it won the 43 seats needed for a majority on the county council.
The Conservatives previously controlled the council with 46 seats ahead of Labour on 27, while Reform had just two.
In Nottinghamshire, the party has won 34 seats needed for a majority on the county council.
Conservatives were previously the biggest party on the council with 33 seats, with 17 independents and Labour 13.
And, Reform UK has also taken control of Derbyshire, after winning more than the 33 seats needed for a majority.
Conservatives previously had 40 seats in Derbyshire, with Labour on 15.
Reform set to take control of Kent County Council
Reform is on course to take control of Kent County Council, after winning 29 of the first 42 seats on the council to be declared.
It means the party needed another 13 seats to take control of the county where Nigel Farage was born, and which has 81 seats.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral a ‘significant win’, say Tories
The Tories say Paul Bristow’s mayoral victory in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough was a “significant win” after a “very difficult night.”
A party spokesman said: “On a very difficult night, this is a significant win for the Conservative Party.
“Paul Bristow will be a fantastic local champion, working hard to deliver the lower taxes and better services the residents of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough deserve.
“Labour previously held this mayoralty and won two new MPs in the region last year, so for Paul to win today shows how Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives are already making inroads into the Labour vote.
“Coming on the back of losing the previously safe Labour seat of Runcorn, as well as council seats in regions with large numbers of Labour MPs, this result is likely to increase concerns in Labour over Keir Starmer’s faltering leadership.”
Arriving at the Hull and East Yorkshire mayor count, Reform UK candidate and former Olympian boxer Luke Campbell admits he is nervous for the result, but has worked hard on his campaign.
If elected, Campbell sys his first step is to improve accountability in the council and connect people in the region.
He also has a message for his critics, saying: Have faith in me. I want to benefit every single person in this region. I promise the only reason I am in this is to benefit the people.”
