Reform UK has landed two electoral blows to Labour overnight in a fresh wave of council elections that couldn’t have come at a worse time for Labour and Keir Starmer.
In the Medway council of Rochester East & Warren Wood (Kent), Reform won two seats unseating Labour incumbents whose vote share crashed 22 per cent.
Reform’s other triumph came at the expense of the Tories in the Bentleys and Frating ward in rural Essex, not far from Nigel Farage’s adopted town of Clacton.
Farage’s party scooped a massive 45 per cent of the vote, obliterating the Conservatives who came a distant third with 17 per cent.
In what was almost a clean sweep for Reform, the party came second in two other council by-elections it stood candidates in.
In Gillingham South (Kent), the Reform party candidate came a close second to Labour, while in the Baxenden ward of Hyndburn (Lancashire) the populist party was just three per cent behind the Tories.
The results will come as a blow to the Prime Minister as they are fresh proof of Reform’s popularity in areas that Labour has just allowed to cancel elections that were due in May.
Essex, for example, where Reform swept to victory in the Bentleys and Frating ward, is cancelling its May elections, something Farage has called a ‘denial of democracy’ and collusion between Labour and the Tories.
The Reform UK leader has been vehemently attacking the government for ‘denying people their chance to vote for Reform.’
Nigel Farage affirms Reform UK are ‘ANGRY’ over local election cancellationsGBN
Council by-elections, usually under-the-radar events, have been thrust into the limelight by the ‘disruptor’ party since Deputy PM Angela Rayner allowed nine councils to cancel their elections due in May.
Farage held an emergency press conference yesterday to rail against the cancellations, jabbing: “I thought that only dictators cancelled elections… but what I see today is collusion to stave off the threat of Reform UK on May 1.”
At the same time, Reform UK released a video calling on Britons to sign a petition to hold the votes which again warns that “only dictators cancel elections” and says “Westminster is terrified of Reform UK.”
The party’s Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe branded the decision an “outrage” and an “arrogant scam” after county council elections in Norfolk were called off.
Labour argues the reform to local government is badly needed to stop councils squabbling over whose responsibility certain services are.
Rayner said the postponement would pave the way for a ‘generational power shift from Whitehall to the town hall.’
Starmer’s party also argues it is expensive waste of taxpayers’ money to hold elections in authorities which are being scrapped as that would meaning new elections would be needed.
The election results mean Labour has suffered a whopping net loss of 31 council seats since the General Election with their overall vote share crumbling by 8.8 per cent.
The Conservatives are still the main beneficiaries having recorded a net gain of 24 seats. Reform UK has performed strongly too, claiming ten seats (up from 0).
It is the latest headache for Keir Starmer whose popularity has crashed faster than any leader in living memory.
Just this week the PM faced intensifying calls to resign after it emerged he’d met with a voice coach just before Christmas in 2020 when the nation was in a severe lockdown.
Starmer previously slammed the Tories for Covid breaches in Downing Street and stated he would resign if he was fined for sharing a beer and a curry with colleagues in Durham.
The Met police has confirmed Starmer will not be investigated over the incident as it was too long ago.
The PM has also been under increasing scrutiny on the Chagos fiasco which will cost £18 billion to the British taxpayer, according to reports in the Times.
The Bank of England also delivered a hammer blow to Labour’s plans for growth by raising interest rates, while markets turmoil has continued under Reeves’ leadership.
