Reform UK made Lincolnshire the epicentre of its political earthquake today after Dame Andrea Jenkyns became the new Mayor and the party is on course to take the county council.
Dame Andrea, wearing an Abba-inspired glam sequined jumpsuit in Reform blue, won a thumping majority of 40,000 over her former party, the Conservatives.
Immigration and efficiencies in local government, including a British DOGE for each council they control to slash town hall waste, were at the heart of Reform’s campaign.
But Arron Banks, a close friend and political ally of Nigel Farage, missed out on becoming mayor for the West of England.
Reform only narrowly missed out on having a mayor in North Tyneside, cutting a Labour majority of almost 14,000 down to just 444.
It was a similar story in Doncaster, where Labour’s Ros Jones closed out Mr Farage’s party by just 698 votes. The Tories were in third, with the right-wing parties together taking 57 per cent of the vote.
New Greater Lincolnshire mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns said there would be ‘an end to soft touch Britain’ after Reform UK’s gains in the polls.
She said: ‘The fightback to save the heart and soul of our great country has now begun.
‘Now that Reform is in a place of power, we can help start rebuilding Britain. Inch by inch, Reform will reset Britain to its glorious past.
‘We will tackle illegal migration. We’ve been working on policies.
‘I say no to putting people in hotels. Tents are good enough for France, they should be good enough for here in Britain.’
The new Greater Lincolnshire Mayor predicted that Nigel Farage would become Prime Minister
Reform UK candidate Dame Andrea Jenkyns joins other candidates on stage ahead of the result in the election for Greater Lincolnshire Mayor, at Grimsby Town Hall, where she won easily
Reform won in Greater Lincolnshire easily last night
Dame Andrea beat the Tories by 40,000 votes – her former party had a bad night
Successful Labour Party candidate Helen Godwin shakes Aaron Banks’ hand after it is announced she won the Mayor of West of England election
Party leader Mr Farage said today: ‘We now are the opposition party in the UK to Labour, and the Tories are a waste of space’.
On a night when Reform also won the Westminster by-election in Runcorn & Helsby by just six votes, Dame Andrea’s victory was absolute.
She received 104,133 votes, with the Tories miles behind on 64,585. Turnout was just under 30 per cent.
She said that ‘inch-by-inch Reform will reset Britain to its glorious past’, paying tribute to Mr Farage.
‘I know one day he will make a great prime minister,’ she added.
The voters of Lincolnshire, a county with a close affinity with Brexit, have given a bloody nose to the Tories and the Labour party.
Reform UK leader said in Runcorn this morning: ‘It’s been a big night for us.
‘We’ve dug very deep into the Labour vote and, in other parts of England, we’ve dug deep into the Conservative vote and we are now, after tonight there’s no question, in most of the country, we are now the main opposition party to this Government.’
The results suggests that national polling putting Reform neck-and-neck with the Tories and Labour parties is correct.
Polling expert Sir John Curtice said Reform UK ‘are in business’ following their good night at the polls.
Mr Farage raised his hands as the incredibly tight result was read out in the Cheshire seat this morning, where Reform took Runcorn and Helsby by just six votes
The Strathclyde University professor told BBC Breakfast: ‘The big question we were looking to these elections to answer was, the message of the opinion polls is that Reform are now posing a big threat to both Conservative and Labour, neck and neck with them according to the polls.
‘Is that really true? And I think we now already know that the answer to that question is yes.
‘Ukip never managed to win a parliamentary by-election afresh in the way that Reform have managed to do in Runcorn.’
Sir John said Reform had put in ‘some quite remarkable performances’ as the more evenly spread vote was not a disadvantage to them at local level.
He added: ‘Reform are in business. They are a major challenge.’
Nigel Farage sent a shockwave through UK politics today as Reform seized Runcorn & Helsby from Labour by just six votes in a dramatic by-election.
A jubilant Mr Farage hailed a ‘big moment’ after recounts in the Cheshire seat, with local elections seeing the insurgents rack up gains across England and spark panic in the two main parties.
It was the narrowest by-election win in modern British history, in what was a Labour stronghold just nine months ago at the general election.
Watched by Mr Farage, victorious candidate Sarah Pochin said the public was sending a message that ‘enough is enough’. ‘Enough Tory failure, enough Labour lies,’ she said.
In the coming hours Mr Farage’s outfit is expected to take hundreds of council seats surrendered by the Tories. The areas up for grabs are traditionally true-blue and were last decided at Boris Johnson’s peak in 2021.
On a momentous day for British politics:
- There is speculation the Tories and Reform could form a coalition in Northumberland after they won 26 and 23 seats on the council respectively from the 69 total;
- Polling guru Professor John Curtice said that from the first 124 wards declared Reform’s vote share was 38 per cent, the Conservatives 28 per cent and Labour 18 per cent;
- Mr Farage branded Sir Keir a ‘coward’ for not campaigning in Runcorn, as ministers admitted the public is ‘impatient’ with the government;
- The Reform leader said the party would end WFH in councils and introduce US-style ‘DOGE’ departments;
- Labour sources are concerned about the party’s Durham heartlands, with fears Reform could even end up in control of the council.
The Runcorn by-election looks set to be the closest result in the post-war period
Mike Amesbury won Runcorn with a huge majority of 14,696 in July, but he resigned earlier this year after being convicted of assaulting a constituent on a night out, triggering this vote.
Ms Pochin received 12,645 votes with her Labour rival just behind on 12,639. The Conservatives received 2,341.
The previous post-war record for the smallest majority at a by-election was 57 in Berwick-Upon-Tweed in 1973.
In one of the first major shocks of the night, Labour’s Karen Clark won the race to be mayor of North Tyneside – held by the party since the post’s inception in 2002.
But the margin of victory was just 444 votes, ahead of Reform’s John Falkenstein in second place and the Tories pushed down to third.
The last time the mayoralty was up for grabs in 2021 the Labour majority was almost 14,000 – although a different voting system was used then.
Mr Farage’s long-term ally Arron Banks put in a strong showing in the West of England mayoralty, overhauling the Greens to come second.
In Greater Lincolnshire, Dame Andrea received 104,133 votes, with the Tories far behind on 64,585. Turnout was just under 30 per cent.
She said that ‘inch-by-inch Reform will reset Britain to its glorious past’, paying tribute to Mr Farage.
‘I know one day he will make a great prime minister,’ she added.
Mr Farage said he was ‘delighted’ with the outcome so far. ‘It’s been a huge night for Reform. One or two near misses in the mayoral contests but a huge night for Reform,’ he told reporters at the count in Runcorn.
He said it had been an ’emotional rollercoaster’ for Ms Pochin.
‘It’s the closest by-election since the war and I think one of the most dramatic, but I sense, also, one of the most significant,’ he said.
Mr Farage said they were ‘on the verge’ of taking control of the council in Staffordshire, and he would be looking towards County Durham where he ‘fancied our chances’.
He also branded Sir Keir a ‘coward’ for failing to visit Runcorn during the campaign.
‘He obviously feared they might lose, therefore he didn’t come,’ he said.
