LAST UPDATE
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37 mins ago
UK PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer conceded Labour’s loss to Reform UK in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election was “disappointing,” but insisted he was determined to delivering change faster.
Starmer told voters his party “get it” but defended what he claimed were the government’s “tough but right” decisions.
New MP Sarah Pochin took the Runcorn and Helsby seat by just six votes – a historically slim margin.
The narrow victory saw Reform taking a constituency that Labour won with a majority of almost 14,700 less than 12 months ago.
In Greater Lincolnshire, Reform elected its first mayor ever. Counting in local elections continues across England.
Farage said of the victories: “For the movement, for the party, it’s a very, very big moment indeed, absolutely, no question, and it’s happening right across England.”
He said it was a sign that Prime Minister Starmer had “alienated so much of his traditional base, it’s just extraordinary”.
Speaking to the PA news agency last night, Farage said there was “no question” that Reform is now “the main opposition party to this government”.
Nigel Farage to @joncraig – looking absolutely thrilled to win “Labour heartland” of Runcorn –
He says this ends the “media narrative” Reform is only a problem for the Tories
And he’s brutal when Jon asks his message to Kemi Badenoch: “Please stay!”
— Sophy Ridge (@SophyRidgeSky)
Speaking to reporters during a visit to Bedfordshire following the result today, Starmer said:
What I want to say is, my response is we get it.
“We were elected in last year to bring about change.”
He said that his party has “started that work”, such as bringing in measures to cut NHS waiting lists, adding: “I am determined that we will go further and faster on the change that people want to see.”
Starmer was asked by reporters whether he would reconsider unpopular policy changes, such as means-testing the winter fuel payment, amid murmurs of backbench discontent in the wake of the results.
“The reason that we took the tough but right decisions in the budget was because we inherited a broken economy,” he told Sky News.
“Maybe other prime ministers would have walked past that, pretended it wasn’t there… I took the choice to make sure our economy was stable.”
Former Conservative minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns was elected mayor in Greater Lincolnshire, where she won with a majority of almost 40,000 over her former party.
Jenkyns was accused of breaking election rules by standing despite not living in the area – a complaint that was dismissed.
She stormed out of a Sky News interview this morning after she was questioned about why, during her victory speech, she pointed out a fellow candidate’s accent.
The first-ever mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, Reform’s Dame Andrea Jenkins, refuses to answer questions from Sky’s @serenabarksing on her comments about a fellow mayoral candidate’s South African accent.https://t.co/TC2ROCL7wW
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/u2QtSwlpHq
— Sky News (@SkyNews)
Reform also beat the Conservatives to take control of Staffordshire County Council, reaching a majority of 32 seats as counting continued today, with the Tories on six seats and a further 24 yet to be announced.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: “We are expecting to see big gains against the Conservatives in their former Middle England heartlands.”
The Green Party was also hoping for success in local contests, with co-leader Carla Denyer saying: “We are taking seats from both the Conservatives and Labour up and down the country as voters, understandably, move away from the tired old parties that have let us all down.”
