Nigel Farage’s Reform UK stun Labour in local elections

Reform UK won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by six votes in an extremely narrow victory that served as a major blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Reform claimed victory in the early hours of Friday morning with 12,645 votes after the contest sat on a knife edge for hours as a full recount was called.

Sir Keir’s Labour Party had held the area for more than 40 years, with the seat won by Mike Amesbury at the 2024 general election with a huge majority of 15,000 votes.

Thursday’s by-election was triggered by Amesbury's resignation in February after he was convicted of assault for punching a constituent.

The vote was the first major test for both Reform and Sir Keir’s government after last year’s historic general election victory.