Labour has suffered a double by-election defeat to Reform UK and the Green Party in a humiliating blow ahead of the local elections in May. Nigel Farage’s party snatched victory from Sir Keir Starmer’s party in the Longdendale, Tameside Council, vote while the Greens took St Ann’s, Haringey Council, from the Prime Minister.
Reform won 46.6% of the Longdendale vote compared to Labour‘s 25%, the Conservative Party’s 12.4% and the Greens’ 12.1%. In Haringey’s St Ann’s vote, the Greens gained 55.4% of the vote, with Labour second on 30.8%, the Tories 4.3%, Lib Dems 3.7% and Reform 3.6%.
Both areas are usually safe Labour wards so the results suggest some likelihood of a local election drubbing for Sir Keir’s party on May 1.
St Ann’s is usually a shoe-in for Labour, as is the London Borough of Haringey of which it’s a part. The ward is within Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s Tottenham constituency.
The previous St Ann’s councillor, Tammy Hymas, resigned from the role in February in protest at Haringey Council’s budget cuts.
Her replacement, Ruairidh Paton, was part of Momentum, a grassroots movement set up after Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour Party in 2015.
A by-election was prompted in Longdendale by the resignation of the now former Labour councillor, Jacqueline North.
Again, Longdendale is usually a safe bet for Labour. The ward falls within the constituency of another member of Sir Keir’s Cabinet – Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.
Reform’s candidate, Allan Hopwood, beat Labour’s candidate Francesca Coates, who is a business and legal affairs manager at the BBC.
A third council by-election on April 10 saw the Liberal Democrats hold on to Sutton Central. Sir Ed Davey’s party secured 55.6% of the vote, up almost 17 points.
The Tories took second place on 14.1% (-8.8), Reform 12.2% (+12.2), Labour 9.3% (-17.9) and the Greens came last with 4.1% (-7).
Voters in 23 local authorities in England go the polls on May 1 to choose their new councillors in the first major test at the ballot box for parties since Labour won the general election in July 2024. A total of 1,641 council seats across the 23 authorities are up for grabs.
Reform is standing 1,631 candidates, according to PA news agency analysis of nomination data published by local authorities. It means the party is contesting 99.4% of seats.
The Conservatives have 1,596 candidates (97.3% of seats) while Labour has 1,543 (94.0%). Further behind are the Lib Dems, with 1,396 candidates (85.1%), and the Greens, with 1,183 (72.1%).
