Nigel Farage's "Reform UK" party has scored a big win in local elections in England, establishing itself as a main contender to challenge the leading position of the two traditional main parties in Britain - Labour and Conservative, BNR reported.
The "Reformers" won over 660 of the approximately 1,600 seats on local councils contested on Thursday. "Reform UK" seized control of eight municipalities from the Conservatives, including Tory strongholds such as Kent and Staffordshire. The party also established control of Doncaster - the only local council that the Labour Party defended, and Durham, where The Labour Party was previously the largest party.
The “Reformers” also won by-elections in Runcorn and Helsby, where the previous MP was a Labour member, bringing their fifth MP to the House of Commons. They also won three mayoral seats in newly created united boroughs.
A jubilant Nigel Farage said the results meant the “Reformers” had overtaken the Tories as the main opposition party to Keir Starmer's Labour government. The elections to 23 councils, mostly in rural and suburban areas of England, marked the first major electoral test since Labour's landslide victory in last year's general election. The Tories, who were defending the most seats, were braced for big losses since the councils they were fighting for re-election were last contested in 2021, when the party was performing strongly under Boris Johnson during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. But their results were even worse than expected, with the party losing more than 650 seats and control of all 15 authorities it was defending.