Reform deals even more council election blows to Labour and Tories with huge swings

Reform UK has smashed the Tories and Labour in a further two council by-elections overnight, just two weeks after their incredible local election results. Nigel Farage swept Labour away in the Stoke-on-Trent council seat of Birches Head & Northwood, with a mega 40 point swing to Reform.

His party, having not stood in the seat when it was last fought in 2023, came from nowhere to pick up 58.5% of the vote. Meanwhile Labour collapsed in half, down 22.4 points to 21.4%. The Tories performed even more poorly, coming in fourth with just 3.5%, behind a local residents’ association.

Reform also dealt a blow to Kemi Badenoch, taking a seat in Norfolk with a swing of 29.3%.

Mr Farage’s party took the Acle constituency in Broadland with 33.2% of the vote, again having not stood in the seat when it was last fought in 2023.

The Conservatives dropped 25.4 points, down to 21.4%, with the Greens coming in third and pushing Labour into fourth with just 19.2%, down 23.2 points from 2023.

The victory in Broadland hints at how Reform may have done in Norfolk more broadly, had the local elections for the council not been delayed due to local government reforms.

A third council by-election overnight saw Labour cling on in Barnet, with London proving one of the few regions still providing some relief for Sir Keir Starmer.

However Labour still took a big hit, losing 18 points from their vote share compared to the last time the Whetstone seat was fought in 2022.

Reform came in third with 20.5%, still suggesting Nigel Farage is proving more popular in London than with any of his previous parties.

The further council election victories come just two weeks after Reform UK beat all expectations in the local elections, picking up hundreds more seats than expected.

Reform won 678 seats in total, and took full control of 10 councils, bringing them up to 804 councillors in total.

In addition, Mr Farage also won the Runcorn by-election by six votes, and two mayoralties in Hull and East Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire.

Ed Davey came second with 370 new seats, pushing the Tories into third having lost 676 seats.

Labour came fourth, losing 187, but were rescued by the face very few Labour seats were up for election this year.