Diane Abbott says Starmer wrong to say Labour should respond to defeats with 'more of the same', just 'further and faster'
Diane Abbott, the veteran Labour leftwinger and mother of the Commons (longest-serving female MP) has posted messages on social media saying Keir Starmer is drawing the wrong lesson from the election results.
Labour leadership seems to think that the answer to these catastrophic election results is more of the same, including cuts to winter fuel payments.
According to Professor John Curtice Labour was defending just 300 local council seats on May 1st because it did so badly in 2021.
Yet of those 300 it managed to lose half of them.
This is in addition to losing a 35% majority in Runcorn.
A disastrous night.
Labour’s campaign for these elections was non-stop boats, asylum, deportation, courts.
It was all about copying Reform UK.
It was a disaster.
It should stop.
Mayor Ros Jones is right on this. [See 10.54am.]
The Labour leadership should be listening to voters on winter fuel payments, welfare cuts, the cost of living, the NHS and energy bills.
Instead, it is attacking our own voters.
The argument that Labour is facing difficult decisions is true. But Labour has chosen to cut welfare and the winder fuel allowance, while increasing funding for the military, giving sweeteners to non-doms and to Big Oil. It is Labour’s choices that are wrong.
And, referring to Starmer’s post-election comments (see 11.35am), Abbott posted this.
Labour leadership saying the party will go further and faster in the same direction. They don’t seem to understand that, it is our current direction that is the problem
Updated
Reform UK takes control of Staffordshire county council from Tories
Reform UK has taken control of Staffordshire county council, the council reports. It was held by the Conservatives.
BREAKING: Reform UK has taken control of Staffordshire County Council.
There are still more results to be declared but Reform UK has won the 32 seats needed for a majority
You won’t see that on the Guardian results page yet because we are using the PA Media results service, and PA only posts council results when all seats are counted.
With results in from three of the six council areas that make up the Cambridge and Peterborough mayorality, the Conservative candidate, Paul Bristow, is ahead by six points, the BBC reports.
If you are looking for ward by ward results, Britain Elects is posting some of them on its Bluesky feed.
In an interview with LBC, Keir Starmer claimed Reform UK’s voting record shows it is not “serious” about tackling the small boats problem. When it was put to him that Reform UK won the Runcorn and Helsby byelection because of migration, he replied:
We put forward legislation to give many more powers to law enforcement to deal with small boat crossings, with gangs that are running that. Reform came into Parliament and voted against that bill.
You can’t say on the one hand, you’re serious about dealing with the problem – and it is a serious problem – and on the other hand, vote down powers to get law enforcement the tools that they need to tackle [it].
Starmer was referring to Reform UK voting against the border security, asylum and immigration bill.
The Labour MP Graham Stringer has said the government cannot just respond to the Runcorn and Helsby by talking about how it had to take tough decisions.
Speaking to the Telegraph this morning, and anticipating what Keir Starmer was going to say a few hours later (see 11.44am), Stringer said:
If the line doesn’t change, we will continue to get deeper into the mire. There doesn’t seem to be any recognition from the leadership that the electorate aren’t stupid, and they don’t like the decisions that have been made or the language that is used to justify those decisions.
They keep saying these are difficult decisions, they are decisions they’d prefer not to do. Those decisions are difficult for the people on the receiving end. If you need the winter fuel allowance, that’s a really difficult decision for you. If you need Pip [personal independence payments] payments which are going to be attacked this autumn, that’s a difficult decision for you.
Referring to the deal transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, which will reportedly cost the UK £90m a year to allow it to running the Diego Garcia military base, Stringer also said he did not accept claims the government cannot afford higher public spending. He said:
I want to see changed policies. One of the things Ellie Reeves [the Labour party chair, who was giving interviews after the Runcorn defeat] said was that nobody is saying how we finance the health service or other things that we want to do. It’s not that difficult. You don’t have to send billions of pounds to keep a base we already own, we don’t have to transfer that money to another country.
Conservative sources are claiming that Reform UK will win Durham county council, according to the Sun on Sunday’s Kate Ferguson.
This is what Andrew Teale says about Durham in his comprehensive election preview.
South of the Tyne we have elections to Durham council where Labour lost control in 2021 after a century of power: they were still the largest party with 53 seats, but they were outvoted by 24 Conservatives, 22 independents, 17 Lib Dems, 5 Derwentside Independents, 4 councillors for the North East Party (who have a powerbase in Peterlee) and 1 Green. A rainbow coalition is running the show under a Lib Dem leader. There are new boundaries here with a big cut to the number of councillors. In by-elections since 2021 Labour have gained three Durham council seats (in Ferryhill, West Auckland and Chester-le-Street East) and held three others (in Dawdon, Horden and Coxhoe). Labour now have a full set of MPs for County Durham and they polled almost 60% here in the 2024 Durham PCC elections, but Reform UK came second across the county in July and they appear to be giving this one a go.
And this is from Anne McElvoy from Politco, commenting on Ferguson’s tweet.
Whether Reform gets across the line here or close, a surge in Durham challenges of view that Farage-ism is only working in left behind areas of the north. Durham actually rather nice place to live (as I can testify) and strong middle class/university penumbra, But I’m also hearing the same thing in East Kent – that Reform is challenging the main parties in relatively well heeled areas.
Starmer defends budget that cut winter fuel payments as Labour campaigners blame it for government's unpopularity
In an interview with Sky News, Keir Starmer defended the government’s decision to stop winter fuel payments for most pensioners in last year’s budget. This has been cited by many Labour campaigners – and by the Labour mayor for Doncaster, Ros Jones (see 10.54am) as a major reason for the government’s unpopularity.
Asked about the cut, Starmer said:
The reason that we took the tough but right decisions in the budget was because we inherited a broken economy.
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.
Yes they were tough decisions, they were the right decisions. Because of those decisions we are now seeing waiting lists coming down, something people desperately want.
Because of that pensioners are now £470 up as of last month, these are really important changes.
Starmer says he must respond to byelection defeat by going 'further and faster on the change'
Keir Starmer has said that he will respond to the election results by going “further and faster on the change”.
According to PA Media, asked about the Runcorn and Helsby byelection result, Starmer said it was “disappointing”
Speaking to reporters, he 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” with changes such as reductions in NHS waiting lists, and he added:
I am determined that we will go further and faster on the change that people want to see.
Runcorn result shows UK faces 'extreme rightwing government' if Starmer does not change, Labour MP says
Another leftwing Labour MP has said the Runcorn and Helsby byelection result shows why the Labour government must change course. This is from Kim Johnson on social media.
Runcorn is a warning we can’t ignore. Voters want change – and if we don’t offer it with bold, hopeful policies that rebuild trust, the far right will.
If we don’t step up now, the alternative won’t be more of the same – it’ll be an extreme right-wing government.
Ed Davey claims middle England 'switching even more to the Liberal Democrats'
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, told the BBC that he thought the election results showed that “people who have traditionally voted Conservative, who thought that they represented their values, and realise that they no longer do that”.
As examples, Davey talked about caring about the rule of law, standing up to the threat from President Trump, championing social care and being opposed to water companies letting sewage into rivers. He went on:
People are angry with the Conservatives for having allowed the water companies to get away with pumping their filthy sewage into our rivers and our seas and they see us the ones championing [that cause].
So many different issues, middle England has switched and is switching even more to the Liberal Democrats. And I think that’s quite a dramatic change in British politics.
Here is video of Nigel Farage claiming that Reform UK are now the opposition to Labour.
Keir Starmer has finished his Q&A at the defence firm in Luton. He said he was now off to “mingle”, before taking questions from reporters a bit later.
Back in Luton Keir Starmer is still taking questions from the defence firm employees who – understandly – aren’t asking the PM questions that journalists would be asking.
The media questions are coming soon.
Starmer needs to show he's listening, says Labour's mayor of Doncaster, who only narrowly beat Reform UK
Ros Jones was re-elected as Labour mayor of Doncaster overnight. But only just. She was only 698 votes ahead of Reform UK.
In an interview with the BBC afterwards, Jones said the result showed the government needed to be listening more “to the man, woman and businesses on the street”. She also said that, on “certainly two or three occasions”, the government had got things wrong.
One was the winter fuel payment cut, she said. She said she denounced that as “wrong” as soon as it was announced.
Asked what the other mistakes were, she said:
They need to look again because actually putting up the cost of national insurance is hitting some of our smaller businesses, and of course the Pip [personal independence payment – the disability benefit being cut], which we know many people are worried about now.
Asked if she had a message for Keir Starmer, she replied:
What I’m saying to Keir is this – he needs to listen and take action, but also remember they’ve been in government a short length of time. We’ve got to drive places like Doncaster forward. Keir’s got to drive the country forward and actually deliver economic growth so all can prosper.
Updated
The first employee to ask a question is, unsurprisingly, not interested in a byelection elsewhere in the country, and instead asks Starmer about the defence sector, and the problems generated for companies by protesters.
The second question is about the proportion of women working in the defence sector.
“12% – we’ve got to get that number up,” says Starmer.
He is talking about the proportion of women in the defence workforce – not Labour’s poll ratings.
Starmer tells the defence workers he wants to say thank you to them on behalf of the nation.
He is now taking questions from members of staff.
Updated
Starmer is still talking about defence, and Ukraine. Still no mention of Runcorn …
Updated
Keir Starmer is in Luton this morning, where he is now speaking to a group of apprentices.
His comments are being broadcast live, but so far he has not said anything about the Runcorn defeat, or any of the other results.
Reform UK supporters more interventionist and protectionist than average voters, poll suggests
Reform UK is normally described as a rightwing, or even a far-right party, mostly because of its stance on immigration and social issues. But some polling has been released this morning showing that, on some economic issues, Reform supporters are relatively leftwing. They are more “interventionist and protectionist” than average voters, according to Apella Advisors, the consultancy that commissioned the research.
Summing up the findings, the firm says:
67% of Reform UK voters said that “Services such as water rail and energy should be run by the public sector, compared to 57% for the general public.
69% of Reform UK voters said that “Foreign ownership is a bad thing”, compared to 47% for the general public.
75% of Reform UK voters said that “Britain should protect its key industries from foreign competition,” compared to 53% for the general public.
68% of Reform UK voters said that “big companies in Britain pay too little tax”, compared to 63% for the general public.
In part, these findings reflect the fact that Nigel Farage has deliberately shifted his party in this direction. Ukip was never interested in public ownership, but Reform UK led the way recently in calling for British Steel to nationalised.
Commenting on the results, James Kirkup, a partner at Apella Advisors, said:
Nigel Farage’s recent embrace of left-wing economic language appears to be resonating with his voters and could win over significant numbers of Labour voters. By following this trend in public opinion, there’s a chance that Reform could shape political debate around economics in the way that they have influenced the conversation about migration.
Green party suggests special educational needs provision could be at risk with Reform UK running councils
Adrian Ramsay, the Green party’s co-leader, told the BBC that he was confident that, for the eighth year in a row, the party would come out of the elections having gained seats not lost them. “People are responding to a Green record,” he said.
He also said Reform UK would come under fresh scrutiny.
What does Reform offer? We’re now going to start to see people scrutinising, if they’ve got a Reform councillor, are they actually interested in the local community?
Are they going to be willing to put in the time? And what are their policies actually going to be at local level? Are they going to be willing, for example, to make sure that children with special educational needs [get the support they need]? Or are they going to continue to say that those needs are not real?
Gawain Towler, a former Reform UK press officer who was on the panel alongside Ramsay claimed that Nigel Farage had never said that. But Ramsay said Farage recently claimed that special educational needs and disabilities are being over-diagnosed.
Kemi Badenoch has ruled out a national pact with Reform UK, but many of her MPs think that such an arrangement is inevitable, including Esther McVey, the former cabinet minister. Before the Runcorn and Helsby byelection, McVey said the Conservatives should stand aside to let Reform UK win it. McVey expressed her feeelings about Nigel Farage’s party again this morning in a post on social media.
Congratulations to my new constituency neighbour @SarahForRuncorn on her dramatic by-election victory.
I look forward to working with her for the benefit of the people of Cheshire.
Here is the BBC’s latest analysis of what is happening to the vote share in the local elections.
The leftwing Labour MP Richard Burgon has also said Keir Starmer needs to change course in the light of the Runcorn and Helsby byelection result. In a post on social media, he said:
Labour’s defeat in Runcorn was entirely avoidable – and is the direct result of the party leadership’s political choices.
By pushing policies like cuts to disability benefits and scrapping the winter fuel allowance, the leadership is driving away our own voters – and letting Reform squeeze through.
The Labour leadership must urgently change course and govern with real Labour values to deliver the change people are crying out for.
It should start by ditching the plans to cut disability benefits and increase taxes on the wealthiest instead.
If it fails to deliver that real change, things could get far worse, with Reform waiting in the wings. And the consequences of that would be horrific for those our Party exists to represent.
Burgon was one of seven Labour MPs who had the whip withdrawn last year for voting for an SNP amendment to the king’s speech calling for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped. He had the whip restored in February.
Prof John Curtice, the BBC commentator and leading psephologist, says the Tory losses in the local elections look as if they will be at the higher end of expectations.
In his latest update for the BBC, he says:
Reform UK have, so far, been winning about 39% of the vote, which puts them 11 points ahead of the Conservatives. They have also won 79 seats - more than any other party.
In those same elections, the Conservatives have been trying to defend 99 seats and have only succeeded in defending 37 of them.
Unless their ability to hang on to seats improves throughout today, their total losses of seats is going to be towards the high end of what people were anticipating.
Lord Hayward, a Tory peer and elections expert, has said he expects the Tories to lose between 475 and 525 council seats.
Badenoch's position as Tory leader 'solid', says Tory co-chair Nigel Huddleston
In an interview on BBC Breakfast, asked if Kemi Badenoch’s position as Conservative leader was secure, Nigel Huddleston, the party’s co-chair, said:
Kemi’s position is certainly solid. She’s only been leader for six months and she was out and about right across the country, and I can tell you this, everywhere we went, people wanted to see her more and hear more from her.
Asked about his use of the word “solid”, Huddleston said:
I say that in a really positive way. She’s very sensible, she’s very honest, she’s very straightforward. She doesn’t go around telling people what they want to hear. That’s the easy route in politics.
Although no one is expecting an imminent leadership challenge, many Conservative MPs think that Badenoch will be replaced before the next election.
The Labour MP Brian Leishman says the government “must change course” in the light of the Runcorn defeat. He posted this on social media.
Runcorn shows Labour must change course. People voted for real change last July & an end to austerity. The first 10 months haven’t been good enough or what the people want & if we don’t improve people’s living standards then the next government will be an extreme right wing one.
Leishman, who was elected as MP for Alloa and Grangemouth in Scotland last year, has criticised the government in public before, particularly over benefit cuts and policy in relation to the Grangemouth oil refinery. Most of the Labour MPs elected for the first time last summer have not wanted to sound disloyal in public.
Farage says Reform UK on course to take control of Lincolnshire and Staffordshire county councils from Tories
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, told the Today programme that his party was now doing well against the Conservatives and Labour. And he said Reform would take control of Lincolnshire and Staffordshire county councils from the Conservatives.
He said:
We’ve supplanted the Conservative party now as the main opposition party of the Labour government.
I think the messages we’re getting in many places where we didn’t quite win was that, if you vote Conservative, actually get Labour.
And we’ve bitten very hard into the labour heartland.
This seat of Runcorn and Helsby – one of Labour’s safest seats in the country. And, albeit the margin may be narrow, but it’s a spectacular byelection win.
But we’re also interestingly, if you look at Conservative, as was, Lincolnshire, Conservative Staffordshire – these are areas where the Conservatives had nearly 90% of the council seats. And we’re going to take control of both of those councils. So it’s a really big night.
Farage is right to say his party is on course to win Lincolnshire (see 8.09am) and Staffordshire. According to PA Media, in Staffordshire Reform won 24 of the 30 seats that were counted overnight, with the Conservatives winning the other six.
To understand what a change this would be, you need to look at what the results were the last time elections were held in these two counties (2021 – when the Tories were doing very well nationally, partly because of Boris Johnson’s vaccine rollout). These are from Andrew Teale’s masterful and extremely detailed preview of the elections on his Substack blog. This is what Teale says about Lincolnshire.
Lincolnshire county council … had a large Conservative majority when it was last contested in 2021: 54 Conservatives against 5 independents, 4 Labour, 3 Lib Dems, 3 South Holland Independents and one Lincolnshire Independent (Overton). Six byelections here over the last four years have all been held by the defending party (four Conservatives, one South Holland Independent and one Labour). The Conservatives have overall control of North Kesteven and South Holland councils and minority control of East Lindsey, but Boston council has an independent majority, South Kesteven is run by an independent-led coalition and West Lindsey council has Lib Dem minority control. The PCC [police and crime commissioner] elections here in 2024 had 37% for the Conservatives, 30% for Labour and 14% for Reform UK,
And this is what he says about Staffordshire.
Staffordshire county council has been under Conservative control since 2009. It is perfectly capable of giving lopsided results, as we can see from the 2021 election (57 Conservatives against 4 Labour councillors and one independent), but that doesn’t mean Labour are entirely out of this (or Reform UK, if they can capitalise on their current support).
Tories reject claim Reform UK now main opposition to Labour - but admitting winning back trust will take 'a long time'
The Conservative co-chair Nigel Huddleston has rejected Reform UK’s claim that it is now the main opposition to Labour. (See 6.40am.)
Speaking on the Today programme, Huddleston said:
We do have the humility we need to communicate to the public, and are doing, that we understand why they lost trust and faith in us.
But we are under new leadership now. [Kemi Badenoch has] only been leader six months. We’re coming from a very, very difficult time period after the last election. But our job … we will continue to hold this disastrous Labour government to account.
But, in an interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Huddleston also admitted that it would take the party “a long time” to win back the trust of voters. He said:
It’s going to take us a long time to build back that trust and confidence … Kemi has said this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Reform UK is on track to take control of Lincolnshire county council, after winning 19 of the first 25 seats to be declared, with Labour on three, Liberal Democrats two and Conservatives one, PA Media reports.
The party needs another 17 seats from the 45 still to be declared to gain a majority on a council which was previously run by the Conservatives with 54 seats. The full result from the council will not be known until later this afternoon, as counting has not yet started in many of the seats.
Andrea Jenkyns, the new Reform UK mayor for Greater Lincolnshire, said this morning that, with her party now in “a place of power”, it would be able to start changing Britain. (See 7.10am.)
But, as a regional mayor, it won’t be that straightforward for Jenkyns, Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), has pointed out. Jenkyns is now head of the Greater Lincolnshire combined country authority (CCA).
In an update on what we have learned from the election results so far, Carr-West said:
What we do know so far is that, for the first time, Reform UK will hold power regionally. This is significant given the government’s agenda to drive further devolution across England.
But, like all combined authority mayors, [Jenkyns] will find that to be successful she must build effective partnerships with local government and across the public sector. The nature of the combined authority mayoral model and the relatively limited powers of the mayor mean that they lead most effectively through persuasion, not compulsion.
Runcorn result shows why Labour needs to stop offering 'more of the same', leftwing groups Momentum and Compass say
The Runcorn and Helsby result has triggered calls from people on the left of Labour for a new approach from Keir Starmer.
This is from Sasha das Gupta, co-chair of Momentum, the leftwing Labour group originally set up to promote Jeremy Corbyn’s policies.
The Runcorn and Helsby byelection result shows what can happen to a Labour government that takes its core voter base for granted. To lose a safe seat so early into its parliamentary term, whilst the far right makes advances across the country, should raise alarm bells in the party.
By continuing austerity, pandering to the far right and failing to offer real change, the Labour Leadership risks handing the country to the likes of Nigel Farage.
It’s time MPs, councillors, party members and the wider labour movement speak out and demand the government change course. This starts with the upcoming vote on welfare cuts. MPs must vote against these cruel and unnecessary measures and stand up for the most vulnerable in society.
And this is from Neal Lawson, a soft left Labour activist who runs Compass, a progressive group committed to pluralism and electoral reform.
Despite Reform scraping it by the skin of their teeth, Labour are squandering their general election victory – people in Runcorn voted for change and instead Labour are giving them more of the same. It’s paving the way for Reform.
Labour need to understand that if people want Reform’s policies then they will vote for Reform - and if they can close the gap this much in 11 months, imagine what it might be in five years.
What should terrify Labour strategists in Runcorn is that the Green vote went up [see 6.17am] – even though Green voters knew this might let Reform in. Labour is simply not progressive enough to win even tactical support.
Reform UK gains 23 seats on Northumberland county council, which remains NOC as all results declared
Northumberland has become the first county council to declare all its results, with Conservatives winning 26 seats, Reform 23, Labour eight, Independents seven, Liberal Democrats three and Greens two, PA Media reports.
With the Conservatives and Reform now holding 49 of the 69 seats on the council, it raises the question of whether the parties will have to deal to run it.
The council was previously led by a minority Conservative administration, with the party down seven and Labour down nine, while Reform previously had no seats on the council.
Here are the results as shown on the Guardian’s results page.
Updated
Prof John Curtice says Reform currently 10 pts ahead of Tories in councils results, and FPTP now helping them come first
Prof John Curtice, the leading elections expert, told the BBC that the results so far suggest Reform UK has made a significant breakthrough in English politics. He said they are currently 10 points ahead of the Tories in council results and – crucially – that the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system was now helping them, not hindering them.
Speaking to the Today programme, he said:
The big question that we were looking to these local elections, together with the parliamentary byelection, to answer is, is the message of the opinion polls that Reform seemingly pose a significant threat to the traditional dominance of the Conservatives and Labour in our electoral politics – is that message of the polls correct?
And it already seems to be clear that the answer to that question is yes.
Winning the byelection in itself was a very substantial success for Reform, narrow as it was.
Ukip never, ever managed to win a parliamentary byelection afresh when it was fighting. And so to that extent is we have now broken new ground in terms of parliamentary byelections.
But it’s what happened underneath the byelections that, in a sense, is really notable.
Yes, Reform did narrowly miss out on those three mayoralities [Doncaster, West of England and North Tyneside – Curtice was speaking before the Greater Lincolnshire result was declared].
But we’ve got 124 wards have been declared, basically across four councils. Reform are clearly ahead on 38% of the vote, the Conservatives with 28% and Labour with 18%.
Now these are very heavily in pro-leave, traditionally Tory areas, so they’re not necessarily representative.
But, even so, what were once parts of true blue England now rather look like true turquoise England.
Curtice also said the first-past-the-post electoral system was working for Reform, not against it.
It’s also the case again, quite remarkably, Reform, who of course found it very difficult to break through the electoral system last summer, now actually have won more councillors as of this morning than any other party.
And I think the crucial point there is that, while at 15% the electoral system could work against them, at their level of support now it could work in their favour.
Updated
Andrea Jenkyns says Reform will end 'soft-touch Britain', and suggests migrants should be housed in tents, not hotels
In her victory speech at the count, Andrea Jenkyns, the new Reform UK mayor for Greater Lincolnshire, attacked her opponents as she claimed the campaign had been one of the dirtiest she had ever experienced. She said:
I’ve fought many elections – four general elections, my third local election – but I’ve never experienced such negativity and soul-destroying campaigns against me like this one. The dirty tricks in US politics, I believe, is now being imported here into Britain.
The Conservatives called the police on me and implied I slept with political friends. They contacted the mainstream media to smear me.
The independent’s husband pushed for a hearing at the council. My barrister had to represent me. The case was dismissed.
The campaign was also filled with irony as one of the candidates stated I was parachuted in – she said in her South African accent.
They undemocratically tried to remove me from the ballot. But I will say no more on this, and I wish them all well, because this is insignificant now, and I’ll draw a line under it now.
Jenkyns also said that the election results meant there was a “new dawn” in British politics and that, under Reform UK, “we’re going to have a Britain where we put British people first”. She went on:
Today, we as Reform, as we are making gains up and down the country, you will see an end to soft-touch Britain. The fight back 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. They’re here in Britain.
I take my hat off to our great leader, Nigel. He has fought for decades, and he still fights for you here today, and I know one day he will make a magnificent prime minister.
Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election: full results
Here are the full results from the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election.
Dame Andrea Jenkyns (Reform) 104,133 (42.03%)
Rob Waltham (C) 64,585 (26.07%)
Jason Stockwood (Lab) 30,384 (12.26%)
Marianne Overton (Ind) 19,911 (8.04%)
Sally Horscroft (Green) 15,040 (6.07%)
Trevor Young (LD) 13,728 (5.54%)
Reform maj 39,548 (15.96%)
Electorate 828,613; Turnout 247,781 (29.90%)
Reform UK's Andrea Jenkyns elected mayor of Greater Lincolnshire
Andrea Jenkyns, the former Tory MP and (briefly) minister who defected to Reform UK, has just been elected as mayor of Greater Lincolnshire. She had 42% of the vote, ahead of the Conservatives’ Rob Waltham on 26.1%.
Adrian Ramsay, the Green party co-leader, says the Runcorn and Helsby byelection result shows Labour needs “a complete reset”. He said:
This Labour government and Starmer needs to do nothing short of a complete reset. Tonight’s results, not just in Runcorn, show that rather than pandering to Reform, they need to address the genuine concerns of working people by taxing wealth to ensure they can rebuild our health service and provide decent social housing.
In the council elections, the Greens claim they are on course for a “record-breaking night”, with the party set to increase the number of councillors they have.
How vote share changed in Runcorn and Helsby
Here is a Guardian graphic showing how the vote share changed in Helsby and Runcorn.
Turning away from Runcorn and Helsby for a moment, the Liberal Democrats say they are on course for big gains in the council elections. Daisy Cooper, the party’s deputy leader, said:
The Liberal Democrats are on course for big gains in places like Shropshire, Devon and Oxfordshire, showing we have replaced the Conservatives as the party of Middle England.
People have not forgiven the Conservatives for their shameful record but are disappointed that the Labour government has failed to deliver the change they promised.
Nigel Farage claims victory in Runcorn means Reform UK now main opposition to Labour
Josh Halliday is the Guardian’s North of England editor.
The incredibly narrow result in Runcorn and Helsby, which came on a night when Reform UK was expected to gain hundreds of council seats across England, followed a huge 17% swing from Labour to Nigel Farage’s party.
After a recount that saw the declaration delayed by three hours, Reform UK won 38.6% of the vote – amounting to 12,645 votes, six more than Labour, making it one of the smallest margins of victory in recent UK political history.
The Conservatives slumped from 16% of the vote at last year’s general election to just 7% at this contest, narrowly finishing ahead of the Green party in third place.
Arriving at the count centre to declare victory at 6am, Farage said:
Here and across the country you’re seeing big swings to us, from Labour in the north and Conservatives in the Midlands and the south. It’s fascinating.
For the movement, for the party, it’s a very, very big moment, absolutely no question and it’s happening right across everywhere.
Farage said the result sent a clear message that “we are now the opposition” and that if voters back the Conservatives then they will “just get a Labour government”.
Karen Shore, Labour’s candidate, refused to speak to the media as she was ushered out of the count centre at the DCBL Stadium in Widnes, Cheshire.
From the moment this byelection was called nearly seven weeks ago it was always expected to be close. But no one could have predicted it would come down to just a handful of votes.
By polling day, bookmakers had Farage’s party odds-on to win, while two polls made them favourites. That seemed to tally with the dominant mood on the ground too.
Voter after voter expressed concern about immigration and Labour’s cuts to winter fuel payments - two of Reform UK’s key talking points - and one of the most-often repeated phrases seemed to be: “I’ve always voted Labour but…”
Although this seemed overall like a constituency ready to turn its back on Labour – in Runcorn’s case, for the first time in half a century – there was an undercurrent of unease.
A minority of voters from across the political spectrum expressed misgivings about their area being represented by a hard-right party – and concerns about Farage in particular. These included Conservative voters, who said they were inclined to back Labour – albeit reluctantly – to try stop a Reform win.
One of Labour’s key messages throughout was to “stop Farage” – it’s possible this resonated with voters as polling day neared, worried about the prospect of a Reform UK win.
This tactical voting may have pushed the result to the wire, although it was not enough to prevent one of the narrowest victories in recent parliamentary history.
For Labour, they may perhaps breathe a sigh of relief that the defeat wasn’t greater given the multiple challenges they faced. That will do little, however, to calm the nerves of those dozens of MPs who may now feel their own jobs are even more vulnerable at the next general election.
Updated
Luke Tryl from More in Common has posted this chart on social media showing how the size of the majority in Runcorn and Helsby compares with other byelections won by slim majorities.
Tories claim Runcorn result suggests Starmer 'on course to be one-term PM'
And here is the official response to the Runcorn and Helsby result from the Conservative party. They say the result suggests that Keir Starmer is “on course to be a one-term prime minister”. (But they are not arguing that it shows Kemi Badenoch is on course to replace him – because, obviously, it implies she isn’t.)
A Conservative spokesperson said:
This result is a damning verdict on Keir Starmer’s leadership which has led to Labour losing a safe seat.
Just 10 months ago Labour won an enormous majority, including in this seat with 52% of the vote, but their policies have been a punch in the face for the people of Runcorn. Snatching winter fuel payments from vulnerable pensioners, pushing farmers to the brink with their vindictive family farms tax and hammering families with a £3,500 jobs tax, families are being punished for their disastrous decisions in government. Now we know why Keir Starmer never bothered to visit the area.
Keir Starmer promised change, but the change he’s delivered has been roundly rejected. Keir Starmer’s MPs will rightfully question his leadership and whether he is now on course to be a one-term prime minister.
Labour says Runcorn defeat shows government must 'move faster' on Plan for Change
The Labour party has issued this response to the Runcorn and Helsby byelection result. It says the result shows the government needs to “move faster” with its Plan for Change.
A spokesperson said:
Byelections are always difficult for the party in government and the events which led to this one being called made it even harder. Voters are still rightly furious with the state of the country after 14 years of failure and clearly expect the government to move faster with the Plan for Change.
While Labour has suffered an extremely narrow defeat, the shock is that the Conservative vote has collapsed. Moderate voters are clearly appalled by the talk of a Tory-Reform pact.
There are encouraging signs that our Plan for Change is working – NHS waiting lists, inflation and interest rates down with wages up – but we will go further and faster to deliver change with relentless focus on putting money back into people’s pockets.
Runcorn and Helsby byelection: full results
Here are the full results from the Runcorn and Helsby byelection. Reform UK won by just six votes, with a swing of 17.4%.
This is said to be the closest byelection result in history.
It is a long list because there were 15 candidates – a near record for a byelection.
Sarah Pochin (Reform) 12,645 (38.72%, +20.58%)
Karen Shore (Lab) 12,639 (38.70%, -14.23%)
Sean Houlston (C) 2,341 (7.17%, -8.83%)
Chris Copeman (Green) 2,314 (7.09%, +0.66%)
Paul Duffy (LD) 942 (2.88%, -2.20%)
Dan Clarke (Lib) 454 (1.39%, +0.26%)
Michael Williams (Ind) 363 (1.11%)
Alan McKie (Ind) 269 (0.82%)
Peter Ford (WPB) 164 (0.50%)
John Stevens (Rejoin) 129 (0.40%)
Howling Laud Hope (Loony) 128 (0.39%)
Catherine Blaiklock (Eng Dem) 95 (0.29%)
Paul Murphy (Soc Dem) 68 (0.21%, -0.07%)
Jason Hughes (Volt) 54 (0.17%)
Graham Moore (ECP) 50 (0.15%)
Reform maj 6 (0.02%)
17.41% swing Lab to Reform
Electorate 70,621; Turnout 32,655 (46.24%, -13.57%)
2024: Lab maj 14,696 (34.80%) – Turnout 42,235 (59.81%)
Amesbury (Lab) 22,358 (52.94%); Moorcroft (Reform) 7,662 (18.14%);
Marsden (C) 6,756 (16.00%); Copeman (Green) 2,715 (6.43%); Rowe (LD)
2,149 (5.09%); Clarke (Lib) 479 (1.13%); Murphy (Soc Dem) 116 (0.27%)
Updated
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, picking up from Kate Lamb.
Sarah Pochin, the new Reform UK MP for Runcorn and Helsby, is speaking now at the count.
She pays tribute to the party’s “great leader”, Nigel Farage.
She goes on:
The people of Runcorn and Helsby have spoken. Enough is enough. Enough Tory failure. Enough Labour lies. And I want to thank every one of you who were brave enough to put a cross against my name on the ballot paper, every one of you who voted for change, every one of you who have put their faith in me as your next member of parliament for this constituency which has such potential, and who have put their faith in Nigel Farage as the next prime minister of this great country.
She says she will be a voice for people who need representation.
Her victory will “insprie the rest of the country to believe that they too can stand up for fairness”, she says.
And she says her win has made history.
Reform UK officially win Runcorn and Helsby byelection by six votes
After a nail-biting night, election officials have announced that Reform UK’s candidate Sarah Pochin has won the byelection in Runcorn and Helsby.
Updated
Reform UK’s Nigel Farage is walking into the Runcorn and Helsby counting event.
After a dramatic night and full recount, results are expected to be announced very soon.
Updated
Another twist in this unpredictable Runcorn and Helsby byelection!
We’ve just been told that the recount has almost been completed but it has thrown up a number of “doubtful” ballot papers that now need to be assessed by the candidates.
Earlier, we had been told that as few as four ballot papers had been deemed in doubt - before they were then accepted as valid Reform UK votes. Now it appears that more than four ballot papers are in doubt. Will keep you posted.
The Doncaster mayoral race was very close at the top - not only between the top two candidates, Labour’s Ros Jones and Reform’s Alex Jones, but coming a close third was the Tories’ Nick Fletcher.
Fletcher is no stranger to politics, having served as the MP for Don Valley between 2019 and 2024, when he lost his seat at the last general election. He garnered a respectable 18,982 votes, compared with Alex Jones’s 23,107 and Ros Jones’s 23,805.
In fourth was Julie Buckley from the Green Party with 2,449 votes and fifth was Andrew Walmsley from the Yorkshire Party.
In her speech, Ros Jones said her priority was to the people of Doncaster. “I make this promise to the people of Doncaster, whether you voted for me or not, I will work for you every single day.”
Ros Jones has hit out at Sir Keir Starmer’s changes to the winter fuel allowance, hike to employers’ national insurance contributions and welfare reforms.
She told the BBC: “I wrote as soon as the winter fuel allowance was actually mooted, and I said it was wrong, and therefore I stepped in immediately and used our household support fund to ensure no-one in Doncaster went cold during the winter.”
The increase in national insurance was “hitting some of our smaller businesses” and the squeeze on the personal independence payment was leaving many people “worried”, Ms Jones said.
She added: “I think the results here tonight will demonstrate that they need to be listening to the man, woman and businesses on the street, and actually deliver for the people, with the people.”
Updated
A breakdown of the electoral dynamics in the West of England race.
Labour has won the West of England mayoralty in what could yet prove to be the best moment of the night for the governing party, which was expected to face stiff competition from the Green Party.
However, in a surprise, it was Reform UK which pipped the Greens to second place in an area which has significant number of left-leaning voters, particularly in the city of Bristol.
Reform UK’s candidate was Aaron Banks, a self-styled ‘Bad boy of Brexit’ and bankroller of one of the campaigners for Britain to leave the European Union, who 45,252 votes to the 51, 197 of Labour’s Helen Godwin.
Labour sources said that polling as recently as last week had suggested a decisive victory for the Greens.
“Not only has their vote fallen since 2021 but the Conservative vote has also plummeted by 12%,” they said, claiming that many voters had been appalled at talk of a Tory-Reform pact during the campaign.
Updated
What’s happening in Runcorn and Helsby?
No sign of white smoke at the Runcorn and Helsby byelection count. Quite a few of the also-ran candidates have left, wisely. Dozens of orange-jacketed counters are meticulously going through each one of the 32,740 votes, powered on by a fresh round of chocolate bars and, probably, a desperation for this to be over given it was supposed to wrap up two hours ago.
We’re in pretty uncharted territory here as it’s said to be the narrowest margin of victory of any UK parliamentary byelection, although that hasn’t been verified.
Whatever the result, it’s certainly one of the most dramatic contests of recent times.
Updated
Another win for Labour in Doncaster
The Doncaster mayoral results are in!
Labour’s Ros Jones has won by a margin of less than 700 votes. The turnout was 33%.
Huge cheers from the gathered Labour supporters, who are singing “There’s only one Ros Jones!”
Updated
West of England mayoral race called for Labour
A win for Labour, with the party’s Helen Godwin securing a win in the West of England mayoral race. Godwin defeated Reform’s Arron Banks, who came second.
The latest from Doncaster, with results imminent
In Doncaster, Reform’s candidate Alex Jones said it was still “too early to say” whether he would win, with 10 minutes to go until declaration.
“It’s looking good,” he added. “Even if we run them a close second, it shows our message is getting through to the populace.”
Has he got big ideas for if he gets in? “Yeah a few. You’ll find out.”
The result of the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral race - where Reform UK are bullish about their prospects of winning - is now not expected for at least another hour and a half.
One of the largest districts where counting is taking place is said to have only started counting, while elections for local councillors in those areas has also slowed things down.
However, there was an alarm call for Labour in one of the other districts, North East Lincolnshire, which has already come through with its results and includes the towns of Grimsby and Cleethorpes.
In that district, Reform’s Andrea Jenkyns took 12523 votes, followed by Labour’s Jason Stockwood (6419) and Rob Waltham (6239). Labour’s performance was being watched on account of expectations that Stockwood, a tech investor and former chair of Grimsby Town Football Club, could count on some kind of base there.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has posted on X, saying the party has won in Runcorn and Helsby.
“Reform UK have won the Runcorn & Helsby by-election by 4 votes! Labour have demanded a recount. We are very confident we have won.”
Votes are currently being recounted in Runcorn and Helsby, with the results expected soon.
Updated
Reform UK looked on course to take control of Staffordshire County Council, after taking 24 of the 30 seats to be counted overnight, with Conservatives winning the other six, PA reports.
It means when counting resumes later on Friday, Reform need to win just eight more seats, which would give Nigel Farage’s party a majority on the council which has 62 seats.
Conservative council leader Alan White lost his seat to Reform in one of the first results of the night. His party previously controlled the council with 53 seats, with Labour holding five and independents four.
The four district and borough areas returning results overnight were Lichfield, Newcastle, South Staffordshire and Tamworth, and ballots will be counted later on Friday in the Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Stafford and Staffordshire Moorlands areas.
The Conservatives have controlled the county council since winning in 2009, claiming elections in 2013, 2017 and 2021.
Throughout our reporting in Runcorn and Helsby in recent months we encountered voters of all persuasions who said they simply either wouldn’t vote, or would do so very reluctantly.
This potential result - splitting Labour and Reform UK by just four votes - shows that every vote truly does count.
If the result stands - and we expect a formal declaration in about an hour - it would be hand Reform UK one of the narrowest parliamentary majorities in recent UK political history.
Since World War Two, two constituencies have been won by just two votes each, according to the BBC - once by the Liberal Democrats in 1997 and another by the Scottish National Party in 2017.
Update from Doncaster:
Votes are still being counted in Doncaster, where it is impossible to tell which way things will go. Labour’s Ros Jones, in a burgundy suit, said she was still hopeful but if she didn’t win she would accept the electorate’s decision.
“That’s how democracy works,” she said.
She has been walking around the floor, with lots of people stopping to speak to her.
Meanwhile, no sign of Reform’s candidate Alex Jones. He was visibly nervous speaking to party members at a Reform event when he shared a stage with Nigel Farage a couple of weeks ago, and this evening some are joking that he’s worried he might actually win.
Full recount in Runcorn and Helsby
This is astonishing. There’s going to be a full recount in the Runcorn and Helsby byelection as Reform UK were ahead by just four votes.
The mood in the count centre is one of utter disbelief. If the recount returns the same result, Reform UK will have overturned one of Labour’s safest seats by just four votes.
Updated
Drama in Runcorn:
Candidates in the key Runcorn and Helsby byelection are being gathered because “a couple of doubtful votes” need to be checked, a senior council official has said.
That’s an indication of how close this contest will be. The parties are being given provisional results, before Labour and Reform UK decide whether to call a full recount.
That’s the territory we’re in.
More in from North Lincolnshire:
Reform UK candidate Dame Andrea Jenkyns was ahead after the first declaration in the contest to become the first North Lincolnshire mayor.
Boston Borough Council, one of the nine authorities that make up the mayoral area, said Dame Andrea had 7,285 votes, ahead of Conservatives (2,695), Lincolnshire Independents (1,193), Labour (897), Green (774) and Liberal Democrat (513).
Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice earlier said the party was “absolutely smashing it” in the contest, where Dame Andrea - a former Tory minister - is on course to win.
In the 2016 referendum, 75.6% of people in Boston voted to leave the EU - the highest proportion in the UK.
The tensions between Andrea Jenkyns, Reform UK’s candidate for the Greater Lincolnshire mayoralty, and her old Conservative colleagues were on display following her arrival at the county centre in Grimsby.
After arriving at the count centre, she was seen to embrace her Labour rival, Jason Stockwood, the tech investor and former chair of Grimsby Town Football Club, while she kept her distance from the Conservative candidate, Rob Waltham.
Jenkyns, who has been criticised by Waltham for not living in the area and at one stage faced accusations she was not eligible to stand, told the Guardian: “The figures are looking good and while a lot has yet to come hopefully it’s going to go my way.”
The former Conservative MP and minister said the results tonight were a key staging post in Reform’s project to win the next general election.
“Reform getting into places of power for the first time and we have to show we can deliver. We are going to be under scrutiny and if we can show what we can do then it will be a blueprint for government,” she added.
Jenkyns has promised “Doge Lincolnshire” to cut government waste – a reference to Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” in the US – and used the slogan “No to net zero madness” in her campaign.
Runcorn and Helsby: some ballot papers recounted
The battle for the Runcorn and Helsby by-election has come down to “within a hundred votes,” according to candidates briefed by local officials. A number of the ballot papers are being recounted because it’s so close. It’s “incredibly tight,” the acting returning officer told the candidates.
This is quite a dramatic turn of events after Nigel Farage was planning to make a grand entrance. The Reform UK leader is believed to be waiting in a car outside the count centre, presumably ready to make an appearance if his party wins.
Updated
The full North Tyneside mayoral result is in: Labour hold
Karen Clark (Lab) 16,230 (30.22%)
John Falkenstein (Reform) 15,786 (29.39%)
Liam Bones (C) 11,017 (20.51%)
Chloe-Louise Reilly (Green) 3,980 (7.41%)
John Appleby (LD) 3,453 (6.43%)
Cath Davis (Ind) 1,780 (3.31%)
Martin Uren (Ind) 1,460 (2.72%)
Lab maj 444 (0.83%)
Electorate 159,717; Turnout 53,706 (33.63%)
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said there was a “seismic shift” in politics taking place, PA reports.
He told Sky News that Reform was “absolutely smashing it” in Lincolnshire, with Dame Andrea Jenkyns on course to win the regional mayoral race and the party set for “very good” results in the county council contest.
He said: “There’s no doubt in my mind, I think Andrea Jenkyns has won this race in Greater Lincolnshire for the mayoral and I think we are going to have a very, very good night in terms of the county council.”
Mr Tice said the Runcorn and Helsby by-election was “very, very close, nip-and-tuck, way too close to call”.
He said there was a “seismic shift going on tonight in British politics, where Reform is is taking huge chunks of votes and seats from both the two main parties”.
More from Josh Halliday, who is reporting live from Runcorn:
Farage is expected to arrive at the Runcorn and Helsby byelection count imminently. I asked a Reform official whether that means they’ve won, and he replied with a broad grin. Labour figures, meanwhile, are looking pretty grim-faced. There’s still no sign of their candidate.
Local elections 2025: full mayoral and council results for England
Keep an eye on the all the results as they come in with our live update tracker below.
The Doncaster mayoral count has just begun.
A total of 32% of the electorate turned out to vote, which is up from 28% in 2021. Postal vote turnout was 61%.
This could be an upset for Labour, with Ros Jones, the incumbent who has won three mayoral elections, facing a hefty challenge from Reform.
The younger party has a younger candidate in Alex Jones (no relation), an inexperienced politician in his 30s who works as a model and a forex trader.
Whoever wins here is likely to take the full council, votes for which are being counted tomorrow, with the result arriving early evening.
If Reform take Doncaster council, it will be the first time Labour has not been the largest party here since it was established 50 years ago. In a solid red heartland, such a seismic shift would tell Keir Starmer everything he needs to know about how the public think the prime minister and his cabinet is performing.
Nigel Farage is believed to be on his way to the Runcorn and Helsby byelection count - perhaps the strongest signal yet that Reform UK expects a narrow victory over Labour. The result would be a huge blow to Sir Keir Starmer in one of the party’s safest seats.
Labour has narrowly held the mayoralty of north Tyneside, less than 500 votes ahead of Reform
Labour’s Karen Clark won with 30% of the vote, compared to Reform on 29%, with the Conservatives on 21%.
The result came ahead of increasing jitters that Nigel Farage’s populist right party would pull off one of the surprises of the night in what would be a major steal from Labour.
Nevertheless, Reform’s gains appears to have been largely at the expense of Labour.
Reacting on BBC, Science Minister Peter, said: “A win is a win. We understand these are parts of the country that have real desperate need for change.”
“This is a good result for Labour. It shows that Labour is still in contention in parts of the country where we keep on being told that we are not.”
We think a result might be fairly close in the closely watched seat of Runcorn and also in Helsby. “It’s very close,” says a Reform UK official, although they definitely look the happier of any of the contenders right now.
Candidates have just been summoned to examine some of the spoiled ballots - those which haven’t been counted as a valid vote - and one observer notes: “I’ve seen more drawings of penises than I’ve ever seen in my life”. Another said there was a lot of “four letter words” directed at the parties.
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice says he has ‘no doubt’ his party’s candidate has ‘convincingly won’ one of the biggest prizes of the night - the mayoralty of the newly created Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority.
Reform’s candidate, Andrea Jenkyns, has yet to arrive at the count centre here in the town of Grimsby.
He was much less bullish about the Runcorn by-election, saying he was “hearing some encouraging things.”
To be clear, we don’t yet have results from Greater Lincolnshire or Runcorn.
Updated
Hertfordshire County results:
Votes for six of Hertfordshire County Council’s 78 seats were counted overnight by Broxbourne Borough Council, which traditionally is one of the earliest to announce general election results.
Conservatives won four of the seats and Reform UK the other two, on a turnout of 27.64%. The full results for Hertfordshire are not expected until late on Friday afternoon.
The Conservatives previously controlled the council with 43 seats.
Reform UK has won three of the first five wards declared at Northumberland County Council, with Labour and the Conservatives picking up one each, PA reports.
There are 67 seats on the council, with the Conservatives defending 33, Labour 18, the Liberal Democrats four and Greens two, while there were 10 independent councillors.
Guardian reporter Ben Quinn is at Grimsby town hall where the ballot boxes are arriving.
Another key prize of the night is the mayoralty of the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority, a newly created entity that brings together a demographically diverse land mass.
Traditionally Labour-leaning industrial towns such as Scunthorpe in the north are welded together with farmland and prosperous market towns to the south including Grantham, popular with London commuters.
As well as local issues, different national policies are also playing out.
In the area around the industrial town of Scunthorpe for example, some expected that Britain’s governing Labour Party could get a bounce from the move by the government to take control of a Chinese-owned British steel mill last month.
As I also reported from southern Lincolnshire, anger among some rural communities towards solar farms has also been seized on by the populist Reform Party where its anti Net Zero policies have found receptive ears.
Labour and Reform UK officials appeared tense as votes were counted through the night at DCBL stadium, the home of Widnes Vikings rugby league club, just across the mouth of the River Mersey from Runcorn.
The battle for Runcorn and Helsby has been billed as the first key test of Reform UK’s ability to topple Britain’s historic two-party system at the next general election. As many as 153 Labour MPs in England and Wales risk losing their seats to Nigel Farage’s party if it continues its surge in popularity, a recent poll suggested.
Campaigners from both parties repeatedly said the result was “too close to call”, downplaying talk of a decisive victory for either side. There was no sign of either Labour or Reform UK candidate with almost an hour to go before the expected result, although the Reform UK chair, Zia Yusuf, did make an appearance for a brief television interview.
Turnout in the contest was a higher-than-expected 46.33%, which some on the count floor attributed to the “Farage factor” – a reference to the Reform UK leader’s ability to provoke strong opinion on either side.
Fifteen candidates are contesting this by-election but in reality it is a two-horse race between Labour and Reform UK, although there had been little enthusiasm from many voters for either party. One independent candidate said the race had been “defined by who people don’t want to vote for - not who people do want to vote for”.
What’s at stake?
These elections are being seen as the first full-scale electoral test for Keir Starmer since the general election, with likely notable repercussions for Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch, and to a lesser extent the Liberal Democrats and Greens.
Up for grabs are more than 1,600 council seats in 23 councils.
In the last local elections, in May 2021 when Boris Johnson was still prime minister, Conservatives won nearly 1,000 of them.
But today, the dynamic is very different .
England local elections 2025: is your council up for election and what’s at stake?
County councils across England are being elected on 1 May, along with four regional mayors. Find out which areas are voting and search for your own in this handy tracker.
The right-wing populist Reform UK is bullish about its chances of winning two new mayoral posts that have been created with significant powers in the north east of England and are among the biggest prizes of the night, writes the Guardian’s Ben Quinn.
That includes the race to be the new mayor of the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority, where a former Conservative MP and minister, Andrea Jenkyns, is Reform’s candidate.
The race is largely regarded as being between Reform and the traditionally dominant party of the right, the Conservative Party, and success there for Reform would mark a major moment in its project to displace its rival on the right.
However, sources in Reform were also expressing confidence that Luke Campbell, a former Olympic boxer with zero political experience, would also win the mayoralty of the Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority. Polls in advance of the election had suggested the race was too close to call.
The party has been talking up its prospects in the contest based on what it says were early tallies – informal scores – of voting in Lincolnshire, where County Council elections were also held.
“Based on what we’ve seen, we are outpacing the Conservative candidate at least two to one in the south of Lincolnshire,” said one source, who admitted that it would be “harder” for the party in northern, more urban and traditionally more Labour-leaning, areas.
“The north will be different but it’s clear that we are smashing it in Tory heartlands.”
Zia Yusuf, chair of Reform UK has spoken to BBC Newsnight from the Runcorn by-election count, saying he thinks it will be a historic night for the party.
I think we are going to win hundreds of council seats; we stand a really good chance of taking control of some councils for the first time as Reform UK, and I think that we will win at least one, perhaps even two mayoral races. As I said, I think it is going to be a historic night for Reform, and in the context, I think this is probably the most... important set of council elections in this country’s history because it marks an end to the stranglehold, that duopoly of the two old parties that they have had on British politics for about a century now.”
Where we are:
Vote counting is underway, with early results starting to trickle in.
All eyes are on whether Labour could lose a previously safe Commons seat, and whether the Tories take a blow across the country.
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could deal major blows to both Labour and the Conservatives, while the Liberal Democrats and the Greens are also confident of success at the expense of the two biggest Westminster parties, write PA media.
Battles to watch include whether Keir Starmer’s Labour party can hold on to the Runcorn and Helsby seat in the Commons, with Reform hoping to take a seat the governing party won convincingly at the 2024 general election.
Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch faces her first test as Tory leader as the party braced for a difficult set of results, with both Reform and the Lib Dems hopeful of stealing council seats last contested in 2021 at the height of Boris Johnson’s popularity with Conservative voters.
Opening summary
Good morning and welcome to our blog covering results in 24 English local council elections, six mayoral races and the byelection in Runcorn and Helsby.
Reform have mounted a fierce challenge to try to overturn the near-15,000 Labour majority in Runcorn.
The byelection, the first since last year’s general election, was triggered when Mike Amesbury resigned after being given a suspended prison sentence for punching a constituent, an incident captured on video.
Reform are also predicted to do well in some of the mayoral contests, which would be worrying for Labour. Meanwhile the council results are forecast to be grim for the Conservatives. Their leader, Kemi Badenoch, has already ruled out resigning, and has said that the party’s current unpopularity “just has to be got through”.
In an interview on Tuesday, she said:
This is something that we have said has to be got through. We’ve got to get through this initial period where the public rejected Conservatism. Last year [at the general election], they voted whatever they could to get Conservatives out. We have a job to do to fix the brand.
Anyone who thinks that this is an overnight task and that changing leader yet again is the solution is not paying attention. The public are quite tired of watching us change leader.
Follow along with us for all the news.
Updated
