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By Shane Croucher
Senior Editor
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The candidate for Reform U.K., the right-wing party of British lawmaker and ally of President Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, won a parliamentary by-election by six votes, taking the seat from the governing Labour Party in a stunning political upset.
The election for northwest England's Runcorn and Helsby went to a recount, but Reform's Sarah Pochin emerged victorious by an ultra-slim margin, beating Labour's Karen Shore in what was previously seen as a safe seat for the ruling party.
Why It Matters
Trump has spoken glowingly of Farage and hailed his electoral successes with Reform, which is upending British politics and topping polls but still faces significant structural barriers before it can break through to power in Westminster.
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Reform is one of the insurgent right-wing parties in Europe favored by billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk, who has also backed the German party Alternative for Germany.
Musk has clashed with Farage, suggesting previously that he should be replaced as leader, but has also called for Britons to vote for Reform and described the party as their "only hope."
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What To Know
Farage, the party's leader, who has appeared with Trump at rallies in the U.S., called it a "huge night for Reform," which also picked up a regional mayoralty—its first—and came close elsewhere in a night of local elections across the country.
A by-election was triggered in Runcorn when its previous member of Parliament, who belonged to the Labour Party, stepped down after he was sentenced to prison for assault.
The by-election win marks another major moment in Reform's rise in British politics. Labour still has a large overall majority in Parliament, but by-elections, which occur outside the usual parliamentary election cycle, are often seen as litmus tests for the state of politics.
Reform now has five MPs and Labour 403. The Conservatives, the official opposition, have 121. The Conservative candidate in Runcorn received about 7 percent of the vote, versus 38.72 percent for Reform and 38.70 percent for Labour.
The U.K. uses a first-past-the-post system for its elections, which makes it harder for smaller parties to break through. But a poll toward the end of April put Reform in first place for voting intention among British adults.
The YouGov poll had Reform at 26 percent, Labour at 23 percent and the Conservatives at 20 percent.
What People Are Saying
Sir John Curtice, a professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde and one of the country's leading experts on British elections, said Reform's overturning of a majority as large as Labour's—35 percent in the seat—was rare, making the party's performance "quite remarkable."
"The big question we were asking ourselves was: Are Reform posing a major challenge to the traditional dominance of British politics by Conservatives and Labour? Is that challenge really there?" Curtice wrote in his analysis for BBC News.
He added, "And I think we now know that the answer to that question is yes."
What Happens Next
Reform is on the up, and the election shows how far it has come in a relatively short amount of time. Still, it remains to be seen whether the party can take power in Westminster.
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