Nigel Farage’s Reform has won a crunch by-election by just six votes following a knife-edge recount in Runcorn and Helsby. Labour and Reform were separated by a wafer-thin margin of just four votes earlier in the night, forcing officials to recount. Reform’s leader arrived to give an impromptu news conference beside his party’s new MP Sarah Pochin even before the results had been announced. This means Ms Pochin becomes Reform’s fifth MP and their first female in Parliament.

Ms Pochin will replace former Labour MP Mike Amesbury, who triggered the vote after resigning when he was convicted of punching a constituent. Mr Farage has told Kemi Badenoch “please stay” as Tory leader and that Sir Keir Starmer is “making life easy” for him.

The Reform UK leader told Sky News: “Whether we won by six or lost by six, I was going to come to this count, support our candidate. Winning’s obviously fantastic but just think about the swing, just think about the swing.

“This is heartland Labour Party, their vote has collapsed and much of it has come to us. And that does away with the sort of media narrative that it’s just us versus the Conservatives. It’s not, this is a whole different politics.”

Mr Farage added that Runcorn and Helsby was a “very patriotic constituency” that no longer had faith in Labour.

He continued: “I promise you that the fact there are 750 young men who’ve illegally crossed the English Channel living in this constituency alone… It’s a sense of fairness and what’s right and what’s wrong, bordering, I would say, even on resentment. And we picked up on that very strongly on the doors with people who’ve voted Labour for all of their lives.”

Asked for his message to Sir Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch, he said: “Kemi Badenoch, please stay. I mean, please don’t resign, we want you to stay on as leader. I’ll put some money in if you like to keep you there. She’s got an impossible job, the Conservative Party is split… The Conservatives are standing in the middle of the road in terms of their own supporters and getting hit by vehicles coming both ways.

“And for Sir Keir, just keep going. You’re making life easy.”

Ms Pochin’s victory for Reform in Runcorn and Helsby has set a new record for the smallest majority at a parliamentary by-election since the end of the Second World War.

Her six votes are well below the previous record of 57, which was set at the Berwick-upon-Tweed by-election in 1973.

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In her speech after she was elected, Ms Pochin thanked her team.

She said: “Firstly, to our great leader Nigel Farage, who has so inspired me to stand up for this country. The people of Runcorn and Helsby have spoken – enough is enough.

“Enough Tory failure, enough Labour lies.

“I want to thank every one of you who were brave enough to put a cross against my name on the ballot paper, every one of you who voted for change, every one of you who have put their faith in me as your next Member of Parliament for this constituency, which has such potential, and who have put their faith in Nigel Farage as the next Prime Minister of this great country.”

It is a dramatic development in a seat that Labour held with a majority of 14,696 in the 2024 General Election and came as Reform made gains in local contests across England.

Acting returning officer Stephen Young said: “Because of the close proximity of the parties, we have agreed to do a full recount of all the ballot papers.”

The 2024 result suggested it should be a safe Labour seat – Amesbury won 53% of the vote – but if the recount upholds Reform’s lead, Sarah Pochin will be the new MP.

Turnout in the by-election was 46.33%, with 32,740 votes cast.

A Labour spokesman said: “By-elections are always difficult for the party in government and the events which led to this one being called made it even harder. Voters are still rightly furious with the state of the country after 14 years of failure and clearly expect the Government to move faster with the Plan for Change.

“While Labour has suffered an extremely narrow defeat, the shock is that the Conservative vote has collapsed. Moderate voters are clearly appalled by the talk of a Tory-Reform pact.

“There are encouraging signs that our Plan for Change is working – NHS waiting lists, inflation and interest rates down with wages up – but we will go further and faster to deliver change with relentless focus on putting money back into people’s pockets.”

Nigel Farage has clinched victory in Runcorn and Helsby (Image: PA)

Nigel Farage celebrates Reform’s Runcorn victory (Image: PA)

Elsewhere, more than 1,600 council seats were up for grabs across 23 local authorities, along with four regional mayors and two local mayors.

Labour lost seats to Reform in Northumberland while in other parts of the country Mr Farage’s party made ground at the expense of the Conservatives.

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Topples Labour in Runcorn and Helsby By-Election Win

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK pulled off one of the most dramatic by-election victories in recent British political history when Sarah Pochin narrowly defeated Labour in Runcorn and Helsby.

The result was extraordinary not simply because Reform won, but because of the scale of the political turnaround. Labour had won the constituency at the 2024 general election with a majority of 14,696. Less than a year later, that majority had disappeared completely.

After a recount, Pochin was declared the winner with 12,645 votes, just six more than Labour candidate Karen Shore, who received 12,639. The six-vote margin made it the closest parliamentary by-election result in British electoral history.

For Farage, the result represented much more than the addition of another MP to the Reform benches.

It was evidence that his party could take a seat directly from Labour in a constituency where the governing party had previously enjoyed a commanding advantage.

A Six-Vote Earthquake

The final figures were almost unbelievably close.

Reform secured 38.7 per cent of the vote, with Labour on virtually the same share. The Conservatives were a distant third on 7.2 per cent, while the Greens took 7.1 per cent. Turnout was 46.2 per cent.

The tiny margin meant that the result required a recount before Pochin could be declared the winner.

Yet the closeness should not obscure the scale of the underlying movement.

At the 2024 general election, Labour had taken more than half of the vote and held the seat by almost 15,000 votes. Reform had been third, with 18.1 per cent.

In the by-election, Reform’s vote share more than doubled while Labour’s fell sharply.

That is why the result attracted so much attention.

The six votes decided the winner, but the broader shift in the electorate was much larger.

From Labour Stronghold to Reform Breakthrough

Runcorn and Helsby had been a difficult target for Reform only months earlier.

Labour’s previous majority suggested that the constituency had a substantial Labour base. But by-election campaigns can expose changes in voter sentiment much more rapidly than general elections.

The contest became an opportunity for voters to express their feelings about the government, the opposition parties and the direction of the country.

Reform’s campaign concentrated heavily on issues including immigration, housing, energy costs and dissatisfaction with public services.

Those issues allowed the party to connect national political arguments with concerns being discussed locally.

The campaign also benefited from the wider visibility of Farage himself.

His presence ensured that a constituency contest became a national political story.

Farage Claims a Bigger Political Meaning

For Reform’s leader, the victory was immediately presented as evidence that the party had moved beyond being a protest movement.

Farage argued that the result showed Reform could defeat Labour directly and challenge the established political order.

That was particularly important because Reform had spent years trying to demonstrate that votes for the party could translate into parliamentary representation.

Winning Runcorn and Helsby provided exactly that proof.

The party now had another elected MP and, perhaps more importantly, a concrete example it could point to when asking voters elsewhere to consider abandoning the traditional parties.

The psychological effect of such a victory can be significant.

A party that has never won a particular type of seat may struggle to persuade voters that victory is realistic.

Once it has done so, the argument changes.

The Conservative Collapse Matters Too

The result was not simply a story about Reform gaining from Labour.

The Conservative vote also fell dramatically.

The Conservatives had received 16 per cent in the 2024 general election but managed only 7.2 per cent in the by-election.

That decline highlights one of the biggest problems facing the Conservative Party.

Reform is not competing exclusively with Labour.

It is also competing for voters who previously supported the Conservatives.

That creates a complicated political equation.

If Conservative voters move to Reform, Reform can grow while the Conservatives weaken. But if the right-of-centre vote remains divided, Labour can sometimes benefit from the fragmentation.

Runcorn demonstrated how quickly that dynamic can develop.

A Warning for Labour

For Labour, the result was an unmistakable warning.

The party did not merely lose a seat it had previously won narrowly.

It lost a constituency where it had enjoyed a substantial majority only months earlier.

That makes the result politically uncomfortable.

Labour can point to the unusual circumstances surrounding the by-election, including the resignation of former MP Mike Amesbury, who had been convicted after an assault on a constituent.

But the scale of the movement towards Reform could not be dismissed simply as a local anomaly.

The result reflected a broader willingness among some voters to punish the governing party.

For Labour strategists, the central question was therefore not simply why six votes separated the two candidates.

It was why tens of thousands of voters who had supported Labour at the general election were no longer doing so.

Reform’s Candidate Becomes Part of the Story

Sarah Pochin’s victory also gave Reform something it desperately needed: an elected representative with a constituency to serve.

Pochin was not simply a name on a ballot paper.

She became the MP for Runcorn and Helsby and the face of Reform’s breakthrough in the constituency.

That creates an opportunity for the party to demonstrate what one of its MPs can do once elected.

The transition from campaigning to representing a constituency is important.

Political parties can make ambitious promises while in opposition. MPs are subsequently judged on how they respond to local concerns, parliamentary debates and national legislation.

Pochin’s performance will therefore become part of the wider argument about Reform’s readiness for a larger parliamentary role.

Why the Result Resonated Beyond Runcorn

The importance of Runcorn and Helsby lies partly in what happened elsewhere at the same time.

Reform was making substantial gains in local elections across England, challenging both Labour and the Conservatives.

That meant the by-election result was not an isolated victory occurring against an otherwise stable political background.

Instead, it formed part of a broader period of electoral turbulence.

Reform could point to local results as evidence of growing organisational strength, while the parliamentary victory demonstrated that the party could convert national momentum into a Westminster seat.

For Farage, that combination was extremely valuable.

The End of Automatic Party Loyalty?

Perhaps the most important lesson from Runcorn is the changing nature of political loyalty.

A generation ago, many voters could identify strongly with one party and remain loyal across multiple elections.

That relationship has weakened.

Voters are increasingly willing to change parties depending on the issues that matter most to them at a particular moment.

Brexit demonstrated this transformation.

The rise of Reform has taken it further.

A voter who once supported Labour may now support Reform because of immigration. A former Conservative voter may move to Reform because of dissatisfaction with the Conservatives. Another voter may switch parties because of taxation, public services, housing or the economy.

The result is a much more fluid electorate.

That makes political forecasting considerably more difficult.

A Victory, But Also a Test

The six-vote victory was undoubtedly dramatic, but Reform must now demonstrate that it can turn an extraordinary breakthrough into lasting political strength.

Winning a by-election is one challenge.

Retaining the seat at a general election is another.

Reform will need to maintain a strong local organisation, defend its record and persuade voters that its wider political programme can withstand scrutiny.

The party also faces the challenge of governing where it has won local authority power and demonstrating that its elected representatives can deliver practical results.

The larger Reform becomes, the more voters will expect beyond opposition rhetoric.

The Bigger Picture

Runcorn and Helsby changed the political conversation because it provided a vivid example of how quickly Britain’s electoral map can move.

Labour went from a majority of nearly 15,000 to defeat by six votes.

Reform went from third place to first.

The Conservatives fell sharply.

And Nigel Farage gained another powerful argument for his claim that the established political order is being challenged.

The six-vote margin will inevitably become part of British electoral folklore.

But the real significance of the result is not those six votes.

It is the thousands of voters who changed their political allegiance between the general election and the by-election.

That is the story Reform will want Britain to remember.

For Labour, it is a warning that traditional strongholds can no longer be taken for granted.

For Conservatives, it demonstrates the scale of the challenge from the right.

And for Reform UK, Runcorn and Helsby became a symbol of something the party had spent years trying to prove: that Nigel Farage’s political movement could turn protest into parliamentary power.

Whether that breakthrough becomes the beginning of a lasting realignment or remains one of the most dramatic by-election shocks in modern British politics will depend on what happens next.

But on that extraordinary night, six votes were enough to redraw the political map.