Reform UK continues to gain ground, winning a council seat from Labour in St Helens as national support for the party rises.
St Helens: So, it looks like Reform UK is on a roll! They just snatched another council seat from Labour, and it’s all thanks to Nigel Farage’s party gaining some serious momentum.
On Thursday night, Labour faced yet another defeat in a local by-election, this time in St Helens, Liverpool. Victor Floyd from Reform won the Blackbrook ward with 546 votes, beating Labour’s Sally Yeoman, who got 460.
Since Sir Keir Starmer’s big win in July, Labour has been losing councillors left and right, with 25 losses in just 172 local by-elections. Ouch! Their vote share has dropped by over 8 percent, which isn’t great news for them.
In fact, just last month, Labour lost a seat on Westminster Council to the Tories, and the Conservatives have been picking up seats all over the place. Reform has also made some gains, winning six seats since July.
Other by-elections on the same day showed Reform’s candidates coming in strong, even finishing second in Barnsley and Stock in Essex, each getting over 20 percent of the vote.
National polls are showing that Farage’s party is really gaining traction. A recent survey revealed that 26 percent of people would back Labour if a General Election were held tomorrow, while 25 percent said they’d support Reform. The Conservatives are trailing behind at 23 percent.
Baroness Harriet Harman even suggested that Reform UK could take over as the second-largest party in the next General Election. She thinks they’ve got a solid argument and know how to present it.
It’s a bit of a mixed bag for Labour right now, and it’ll be interesting to see how things unfold in the coming months!