The party has won yet more council seats overnight, securing its lead over other parties
Reform UK has swept to more victories (Image: Getty)
Reform UK has swept to victory in yet more council by-elections overnight, taking four new seats from opposition parties including their first ever gain in Scotland. The victory north of the border was announced this lunchtime, as Nigel Farage’s surging party snatched first place against both Labour and the SNP in West Lothian.
Reform won 32% of the vote, having not stood last time the seat was fought in 2022, as Labour and the SNP both tanked. Labour, who held the Whitburn and Blackburn ward previously, dropped to just 17.1% support and shed 20.3 points. While the SNP, who came second, lost 10.7 points and dropped to 28%. Mr Farage described it as a “fantastic victory… in a seat we were not expected to win.”
In other by-elections results announced overnight, Reform won the seat of Belmont (South Kesteven) near Grantham from local independents, pipping the tories by 0.3 points.
They took 33.4% in the election, from a standing start having not stood last time in 2023. In a neighbouring ward of Aveland, also in South Kesteven, Reform won a more commanding victory, taking a seat from the Tories with a swing of 3.8%. Reform won 41% of the vote, gaining 26.5 points, while the Tories also put on a strong showing with 39.5%, gaining 19 points. The previous LibDem incumbents did not stand.
Lastly Reform won a major gain in the Red Hall & Lingfield ward in Darlington, storming to victory against Labour.
Mr Farage’s party took 37.7% from a standing start, while Labour crashed by an almost identical amount of 37.1 points.
The Tories came a distant second with 17.3%, but also fell by a sizeable 22.5 points in support.
In some rare good news for Ms Badenoch’s party, the Tories held a seat in the nearby ward of Eaglescliffe West in Stockton-on-Tees council.
The Tories secured an impressive 60.9% of the vote, gaining 4.4 points on last time the seat was fought in 2023.
The Tories also polled well in Stockton-on-Tees (Image: Getty)
While Reform gained 17.6 points, securing 24% of the vote, they were well behind.
However Labour crashed again in the red wall, losing 21.7 points of their support in just two years.
Yesterday evening Reform UK chairman Dr David Bull pointed out that since the May elections earlier this year, his party has won more by-elections than the Tories, Labour and Greens combined.
He said it’s proof that not only is the party polling well nationally, “we’re actually turning those polls into real results”.
He added: “There is no doubt that Britain wants Reform.”
