The China Mail - Hard right wins local UK election in blow to Labour PM

Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including its first mayoralty.

"This is heartland Labour Party. Their vote has collapsed, and much of it's come to us," said Farage of Starmer's first electoral loss since he took office last July.

"And that does away with the sort of media narrative that somehow it's just us versus the Conservatives. It's not. This is a whole different politics," added the Brexit champion.

The group's strong showing -- overturning a huge Labour majority in one of the party's safest parliamentary seats -- continues momentum seen at last year's general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics.

Retiree Christopher Davies, who voted Reform because he felt "disgruntled" with Labour, told AFP the result was a "wake up call for both" the country's main parties.

"I don't agree with all the things that Reform are on about, but... it was just out of total disillusionment with the system," the 67-year-old said.

The polls were the first since Starmer became prime minister and Kemi Badenoch took over the reins of the struggling opposition Conservatives last year.

The premier called the result "disappointing", pledging to go "further and faster" in delivering change.

- Political fragmentation -

Reform also picked up dozens of council seats from both Labour and the Conservatives as Britain's long-established political landscape showed signs of fragmenting.

In the fight for six mayoralties, Reform won Greater Lincolnshire with Labour holding three. Labour, however, only narrowly held the North Tyneside mayoralty after a 26-percent swing to Reform.

New Greater Lincolnshire mayor Andrea Jenkyns 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," she said.

Reform's by-election victory takes its number of parliamentary seats to five, an unprecedented number for a British hard-right party in the 650-seat chamber.

Just 1,641 seats across 23 local authorities were up for grabs -- only a fraction of England's 17,000 councillors -- but early results suggested Reform was transferring leads in national polls into tangible results at the ballot box.

"The first results show the Labour government is quite unpopular," analyst Anand Menon told AFP.

"The second point is the Conservatives clearly are not being seen as a credible government in waiting by the electorate. So it's bad news for both the big parties."

He warned Reform seems "to be more of a threat after these elections to Labour than any other party".

The centrist Liberal Democrats and left-wing Greens were also expected to make gains, as surveys show Britons are increasingly disillusioned amid anaemic economic growth, high levels of irregular immigration and flagging public services.

Reform, which has vowed to "stop the boats" of irregular migrants crossing the English Channel, is hoping winning mayoralties and gaining hundreds of councillors will help it build its grassroots activism before the next general election -- likely in 2029.

- Swing to Reform -

Labour won in July with just 33.7 percent of the vote, the lowest share for any party winning a general election since World War II.

The Conservatives -- ousted after 14 years in power -- won just 24 percent of the vote, securing only 121 seats in the parliament with the Liberal Democrats on 72 seats and Reform on five.

The Runcorn and Helsby by-election was triggered after sitting Labour MP Mike Amesbury was convicted of assault for punching a man in the street.

At a declaration shortly before 6:00 am (0500 GMT) election officials said Reform's Sarah Pochin secured 12,645 votes to 12,639 for Labour candidate Karen Shore.

The result was a 17-percent swing from Labour to Reform after the party last year won the seat with 53 percent of the vote, while Reform got just 18 percent.

A Labour MP said the result showed Labour "must change course".

"The first 10 months haven't been good enough ... if we don't improve people's living standards then the next government will be an extreme right wing one," lawmaker Brian Leishman wrote on X.

P.Deng--ThChM