The right-wing Reform UK Party saw a series of electoral wins early Friday after it secured parliamentary, mayoral and several local election seats in what leader Nigel Farage said is proof that Reform UK is ‘now the opposition party to this Labour government.’
Farage, who predicted earlier this year in an interview with Fox News Digital that there would be a ‘political revolution,’ said the centurylong, two-party system that has dominated British politics was ‘now dead’ after both the liberal Labour Party and Conservative Party saw losses in a Thursday election.
Reform UK secured a fifth parliamentary seat after Sarah Pochin flipped the Runcorn & Helsby constituency, which is, according to Reform leaders, considered Labour ‘heartland.’
‘Victory in Runcorn & Helsby proves we are now the opposition party to this Labour government,’ Farage said on X. ‘With this and other results tonight, it’s clear that if you vote Conservative you will get Labour. But if you vote Reform, you get Reform.’
The race for the Runcorn & Helsby seat was the most closely watched race and required a full recount, after which it was confirmed that Reform secured the seat by just six votes.
Farage championed the victory as ‘a small margin’ but ‘a huge win.’
The Labour Party – which is led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer – currently holds 403 seats in Parliament, followed by the Conservative Party, which holds 121. Liberal Democrats hold 72 seats, while Independents hold 14. The remainder of the 40 other seats are divided between 11 other parties, including Reform.
Andrea Jenkyns also snagged the mayorship for Greater Lincolnshire, which has for years been dominated by the Conservative Party.
Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, reportedly told Times Radio on Friday, ‘It’s certainly a political earthquake because up and down the country in some 650 elections, give or take, voters have voted and the votes are coming in against the main two parties.’
According to Farage, the rise in Reform UK supporters suggests the Conservative Party – which he was a former member of but left in the 90s and eventually started the Brexit Party before changing the name to Reform UK in 2021 – is losing support.
‘You’re witnessing the end of a party that’s been around since 1832,’ he told reporters, according to a Reuters report.