Nigel Farage will be delighted this morning as he wakes up to discover Reform UK has won a swathe of new council seats in overnight by-elections. Reform stormed to victory in a whopping four separate elections, suggesting the party’s momentum shows no sign of slowing down.
Mr Farage’s candidates took the Illtyd seat in the Vale of Glamorgan with 31.3%, from a standing start after not competing when it was last fought in 2022. Reform crashed by 22.7 points into fourth place, having won last time. In the Stotfold ward of Central Bedfordshire council, Reform won with 30.8% of the vote, pushing the incumbent Labour Party into third place.
In Newmarket East (West Suffolk), Reform took its third seat from Labour with 29.7% of the vote, again pushing Sir Keir Starmer’s party into fourth place.
However their most sweeping victory came at the expense of the Tories in Walsall, where the Pelsall ward by-election saw Reform storm into first place with a whopping 45% of the vote.
This represented a 31.3 point rise in their vote share, while the Tories collapsed by 24.1 points.
Reacting to the Bedfordshire win, Reform’s recent defector Nadine Dorries delighted at her new party winning in her old constituency.
Ms Dorries said: “Conservatives threw everything they had at this by-election. A clear win for Reform. Well done Cllr Marion Mason.”
Reform failed to win just one of the five by-elections held last night, as the Tories gained a seat on Cheshire East council.
Reform now has impressive showings every Thursday, when council by-elections are held, further proving their national poll lead is a real threat to the main parties.
Mr Farage’s party swept to an astonishing victory in May’s local elections, gaining 677 councillors and 10 councils, many more than experts had predicted.
The party has led in every single national opinion poll since early April, some putting Mr Farage on more than Labour and the Tories combined.