Political situation in the UK

Reform steals mandate from Labour by a narrow margin

This morning it became clear that the right-wing populist Reform UK has won an extra mandate in parliament that previously belonged to Labour, several media outlets report.

This concerns the mandate for the Runcorn and Helsby constituency in northwestern England. In last year's general election, Labour's Mike Amesbury easily won the constituency, but he was forced to leave parliament after being convicted of assault. Therefore, the mandate was at stake in Thursday's local elections.

After a recount on Friday morning, it became clear that Reform's candidate Sarah Pochin won the mandate by a margin of only six votes ahead of Labour candidate Karen Shore, the smallest margin of victory in British history, according to Reuters.

Right-wing populists are making strong gains in British local elections

Right-wing populist Reform UK looks set to make headway as the results of the British local elections begin to roll in on Friday morning, writes AFP. The party looks set to win seats from both Labour and the Conservative Tory parties in many places.

The Liberal Democrats and the Greens also look set to make strong choices.

The local elections are the first since Keir Starmer and the Labour Party took power in the country and since Kemi Badenoch became the new leader of the Tories. The election is in itself quite insignificant, but is seen as an indicator of the trend of smaller parties growing at the expense of the two big ones, which could lead the country into a new era of multi-party politics