{"id":14456,"date":"2025-05-02T06:22:01","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T06:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14456"},"modified":"2025-05-02T06:22:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T06:22:02","slug":"reform-uk-wins-runcorn-by-election-by-six-votes-in-blow-to-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14456","title":{"rendered":"Reform UK wins Runcorn by-election by six votes in blow to Labour"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description\"><span>Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=9b498cb3-b6ea-457c-9c48-3fa1ca0af030\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Reform UK has won the Runcorn &amp; Helsby by-election, ousting Labour by just six votes and boosting Nigel Farage\u2019s efforts to establish his rightwing populist party as a major force in British politics.<\/p>\n<p>Sarah Pochin won the Cheshire seat after a recount, overturning a Labour majority of almost 15,000 to become Reform\u2019s fifth member of parliament.<\/p>\n<p>The by-election in a traditional Labour stronghold was the most significant contest among dozens of mayoral races and council elections that took place on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>As well as Reform, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens are also expected to make gains, in the latest sign that Labour and the Conservatives are losing the duopoly they have held in British politics for decades.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWinning is fantastic but don\u2019t just think about winning,\u201d said Farage, adding that Labour\u2019s vote in its heartland had \u201ccollapsed and much of it has come to us\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a whole different politics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The defeat in Runcorn will alarm Labour, which has endured a plunge in its popularity since returning to government in a landslide victory last July.<\/p>\n<p>The Runcorn seat was held by former Labour MP Mike Amesbury, whose conviction for assault triggered the by-election.<\/p>\n<p>Reform candidate Pochin campaigned on an anti-immigration ticket that targeted a local asylum hotel and capitalised on local anger about the government\u2019s welfare cuts.<\/p>\n<p>Labour championed the government\u2019s extra funding for the NHS and its package of employment reforms, while it also tried to persuade former Green and Lib Dem supporters to vote tactically against Reform.<\/p>\n<p>Early results in mayoral races also suggested a big swing towards Reform. Its candidate in Greater Lincolnshire, former Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns, surged to victory with 42 per cent of the vote, giving the party its first mayor. Reform also came close to toppling Labour in North Tyneside and Doncaster.<\/p>\n<p>In North Tyneside in north-east England, Karen Clark won with 30.2 per cent, just ahead of Reform\u2019s 29.4 per cent. In Doncaster, Labour\u2019s Ros Jones won with 23,805 votes, just ahead of Reform\u2019s Alexander Jones at 23,107.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Richard Tice, deputy leader of Reform, said the early results were \u201cvery, very encouraging\u201d for his party and suggested a \u201cseismic shift\u201d in voting patterns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo far I think we have taken more seats from Labour than from the Conservatives,\u201d he told Sky News. \u201cIt\u2019s fascinating that we\u2019re taking so many votes from Labour in its heartlands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ellie Reeves, the Labour party chair, said: \u201cThese elections were always going to be a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added: \u201cWe know people aren\u2019t yet fully feeling the benefit and we are just as impatient for change as the rest of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reform is currently ahead in opinion polls with an average of 26 per cent, compared with Labour\u2019s 24 per cent and the Conservatives\u2019 21 per cent, according to the Financial Times\u2019 poll of polls.<\/p>\n<p>Labour strategists fear that Reform could capture large parts of its former heartlands in northern England and the Midlands at the next general election.<\/p>\n<p>In a sign of Labour\u2019s low expectations for the by-election, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer did not visit the constituency in the run-up to polling day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Results due later on Friday are also expected to be a setback for Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, with her party forecast to lose hundreds of council seats.<\/p>\n<p>The Tories are facing a threat from Reform and the centre-left Lib Dems, who hope for gains in southern councils.<\/p>\n<p>This set of English councils was last contested when former premier Boris Johnson was enjoying heightened popularity thanks to a \u201cvaccine bounce\u201d during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>The Conservatives\u2019 shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: \u201cIf we lost half our seats, which I think we probably will do, it\u2019s going to be a bad night for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/9b498cb3-b6ea-457c-9c48-3fa1ca0af030\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Reform UK&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Reform UK wins Runcorn by-election by six votes in blow to Labour | inFundPros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Reform UK has won the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14456\" \/>\n<meta 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