A Pivotal Victory for Reform and a Moment of Reckoning for Labour

Votes are being counted across England, but there is a clear early winner from these local elections: Nigel Farage. His party triumphed in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election this morning, overturning a 14,000-odd majority and winning by just six votes!

Elsewhere, Andrea Jenkyns triumphed in Lincolnshire; Reform came second in a number of mayoral races; and their 38 per cent vote share in Runcorn matches the best-ever performance that Ukip achieved in a by-election.

So far, the story is one of teal triumph – at the expense of the two main parties. Labour are already pointing to the difficulty incumbents often face at local elections, and will claim victory after narrowly holding out in three mayoral races: North Tyneside, the West of England and Doncaster. The Tories, however, appear to have totally capitulated – but with widespread results for councils across England expected later, that could all change.

Oscar Edmondson speaks to James Heale and Lucy Dunn.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.