Reform UK suffer two by-election defeats in one night

It seems some parts of the country are already deciding they've had enough of Reform.

Since Andy Burnham became prime minister, Labour have experienced a surge in polling support and have managed to knock Reform off top spot in several polls.

At the same time, controversies around Reform and Nigel Farage deciding to fight a by-election against a bin haven’t done wonders for the party’s polling and popularity.

Whilst a general election is still some way off, local elections may already be providing a glimpse at the public mood.

On Thursday night, Reform lost two seats in council by-elections.

The first of these defeats was in the Huntingdonshire district council seat of St Neots Eynesbury, where the Lib Dems saw a huge jump in support to win the seat from Reform.

Reform had only won the seat in May’s local elections but have lost it just four months later.

This leaves Reform with just eight seats on the council, whilst the Lib Dems are the biggest party with 22 councillors, ahead of the Conservatives with 15.

This was followed by Labour reclaiming a seat off Farage’s party in the Barnsley council ward of Penistone East.

The by-election had been triggered by a Reform councillor stepping down, and resulted in Labour’s John Roberts being elected to the ward.

Reform still hold an overwhelming majority on Barnsley council though, with 42 of the 63 seats, but the party may not want many more by-election at this rate.

There have been a few awkward local election performances for Reform in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the party lost a town council seat to Labour in a by-election was called after a paperwork gaffe from the previous Reform councillor.