He was keen to attend the announcement of the result in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election – but only if his candidate, Sarah Pochin, was going to win. She did – by a wafer-thin margin of just six votes. By that point, Reform had already fallen short in mayoral races in North Tyneside, Doncaster and the West of England. Farage said it was a “huge night for Reform”, but at that point, there was still a feeling that the party could have done more.
The Conservatives, by contrast, lost well over half the seats they were defending and were squeezed from the left by the Liberal Democrats, as well as from the right. Labour also fell backwards, utterly failing to build on the success of last year’s general election.
Helen Godwin’s win in the contest to become the Mayor of the West of England was Labour’s only real bright spot (Ben Birchall/PA Wire)
One Labour MP who is deeply concerned about the threat that Reform poses, particularly in the North and Midlands, told The i Paper: “It is a wake-up call to the ‘Reform is just Ukip in new clothes’ brigade – no, it’s not.”
‘People can see how bad they are at running things’
Another Labour insider suggested that Farage – not known for his ability to share the limelight – would struggle to work with figures such as Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the ex-Tory MP who is the new Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire after defecting to Reform. She used her victory speech to accuse her opponents of smearing her with lies about her sex life and mocked one of them for being South African.
Dame Andrea Jenkyns of Reform speaks to members of the media after being elected Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire (Photo: Ian Forsyth/Getty)Although Blair’s think-tank rushed out a “clarification” to limit the fallout, the damage was done. A Downing Street source admitted that “the timing wasn’t perfect” but insisted the row was “not the end of world”.
Another Labour backbencher complained that many of the Government’s priorities – including immigration, defence and security policy – remain unclear. They are waiting for the results of reviews that will not be published until around the time of the spending review in June, when Whitehall budgets will be set for the next three years. The MP said there was a “sense that there’s a lot of announcements stuck”, adding: “My view is that you would have wanted to do the spending review before your local elections.”
The result in Runcorn was decided by “a household of votes almost”, a different Labour MP said, hailing the ability of their party to cling on in mayoral contests. They added: “I don’t share the view that it warrants panic but I hope it’s clear we need some good times to roll in the country.”
Sarah Pochin delivering her acceptance speech after winning the Runcorn and Helsby by-election for Reform (Photo: Oli Scarff/AFP)Many expect the Tories to replace Badenoch
Many both inside and outside the party predict that Kemi Badenoch will be replaced as leader before too long after failing to improve the party’s position in opinion polls since she took over six months ago. Even if she does go, however, the Tories will not have answered the question of how to handle the rise of Reform.
Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch during a visit to Romshed Farm, Sevenoaks, Kent, whilst on the local election campaign trail (Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA)Another member of Badenoch’s team suggested that views of any future tie-up with Reform would be subject to change, saying: “I still think we can outcompete and eat Reform in the way that we’ve done with other parties, but we won’t know what the actual solution systems are until probably two years, 18 months out.”
Labour risks losing voters to Greens and Lib Dems
“For the Tories, it’s probably a bit more straightforward: they need to rebuild credibility and go after Reform’s voters. They too may risk alienating some of their more wealthy, liberal voters, but given their current malaise it’s probably worth more overtly going after Reform’s voters and trying to rebuild trust that way.”
Some Labour insiders see a silver lining in the rise of Reform: that it may help unite the left despite grumblings from voters about Starmer. An MP said they were confident they would “be able to squeeze more of the Green vote” at the next election “because of Farage”. If Reform remained at their current polling level, the MP said that every time they met a Green-inclined voter on the doorstep, they would say: “It’s fine if you want to vote Green, but you’ll have Nigel Farage in Downing Street.”
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Labour fears eviction after just one term as Farage eyes No 10 )
Also on site :