Nigel Farage’s party makes two more gains as insurgent party set to cause a political earthquake in May
Nigel FarageβsΒ Reform UKΒ has triumphed in another pair of council by-elections, as Labour crashed to a devastating defeat by the Greens.Β The insurgent partyΒ stormed to victory in the Tottingham ward on Bury Council, coming from nothing to win 39.5% of the vote and wrest the seat from the Conservatives, whose vote share slumped by 19.1%.
And to prove it is not just winning votes from theΒ Tories, Reform also gained the Wigmore ward in Luton from the Liberal Democrats with 32.9% of the vote. The Lib Demsβ 30.4% was a 24.2% drop from the last time an election was contested in the seat. The Greens, meanwhile, gaveΒ LabourΒ a bloody nose by winning Rossendaleβs Hareholme and Waterfoot ward, with Reform knocking SirΒ Keir Starmerβs party into third.
Labourβs vote share collapsed by 27.9%, while the Tories lost 17.6%.
It means that in the 228 council by-elections fought since May 2025,Β Reform has won 80, with the Lib Dems taking 64 and Labour just 17.
It indicates that Reform isΒ on course to spark a political earthquakeΒ at the May local elections, in which a polling expert predicts it could win a staggering 2,260 seats.
Labour has been warned it could lose as many as 2,000 councillors in a brutal night, with the Tories also set to lose 1,000.
Zack Polanskiβs Green PartyΒ is likely to be a huge beneficiary, boosting its numbers on councils across the country by about 450, according to leading psephologist Steve Fisher.
IfΒ his predictions come true, Reform UKβs gains would dwarf those of Labour under new leader Tony Blair in 1995.
In that year, Labour won 1,661 seats, paving the way for a landslide General Election victory two years later.
