Nigel Farage’s insurgent anti-immigration party, Reform U.K., scored a significant, if narrow, victory Friday in a parliamentary special election in the northwest of England, serving notice that Mr. Farage, a populist fixture and close ally of President Trump, is again a rising force in British politics.
Reform’s candidate, Sarah Pochin, won by a razor-thin margin of six votes over her Labour Party opponent, Karen Shore, in Runcorn and Helsby, seizing what had been a safe seat for Labour until the incumbent, Mike Amesbury, was forced to resign after being convicted of assault for punching one of his constituents.
On a night of high drama, the outcome was so close that the vote had to be recounted, delaying the declaration of the result for several hours. But the victory was the first of what could be an impressive show of strength by Reform in mayoral and local council elections held Thursday across England.
More than 1,600 municipal seats are up for grabs, and polls suggest that Reform could win at least 300 of them, with a total vote share that equals, or even exceeds, that of the governing Labour Party, and the main opposition party, the Conservatives.
If Reform’s gains are borne out as the ballots are counted throughout Friday, it would deliver a significant jolt to British politics, potentially accelerating the country’s shift toward a more polarized, multiparty system.
For Prime Minister Keir Starmer, it would be a setback in his party’s first electoral test since Labour swept to power last July. The Conservatives, still licking their wounds after last summer’s stinging defeat, would find themselves even more vulnerable to a threat from Reform. And Mr. Farage could make a plausible case that Reform is emerging as a genuine rival to both major parties.
By itself, the Runcorn defeat is a blow to Mr. Starmer. Labour won the seat in the last election with a margin of 15,400 votes. But Mr. Amesbury’s conviction, on top of voter frustration with the government, gave Reform an opening. Ms. Pochin, a businesswoman who served in local government, will join Mr. Farage as one of five Reform lawmakers with seats in Parliament.
Her single-digit margin of victory in a special election was without precedent in modern British political history. The closest margin before this one was in Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1973, when the Liberal Democrats won by 57 votes.
“The people of Runcorn and Helsby have spoken,” Ms. Pochin said after her victory. “Enough is enough. Enough Tory failure. Enough Labour lies.” She was joined by Mr. Farage, who told reporters that the victory, along with the party’s gains in local races, signaled that, “it’s a huge night for Reform.”
On Thursday in Runcorn, the portents of a Reform victory were in the air. People on the town’s main street said the party had capitalized on anti-incumbent fervor, fueled by dissatisfaction with the economy, as well as on tensions over immigration, to win support among voters with deep Labour roots.
Runcorn, an industrial town of 61,000 that hunkers on the River Mersey, west of Liverpool, is part of the Runcorn and Helsby constituency. In recent years, immigration has become a fraught issue after a local hotel was converted to house migrants, some of whom cross the English Channel in small boats, seeking asylum.
While the Labour government has announced plans to close the hotel, along with several others used to house asylum seekers, Reform has kept a spotlight on the hotel and tried to claim credit for pressuring the government to act.
Terry Osborne, 49, a business development manager, said Reform had tried to exploit the fact that some voters were not aware of the government’s role, and was playing to their pre-existing biases on immigration. “They’ll hear what they want to hear about immigration,” he said.
Mohammed Alosta, 36, a business owner who described himself as a longtime Labour supporter, said Reform had played a “dirty game” in playing up its role in closing the hotel that houses asylum seekers.
Still, Mr. Alosta said he would not vote for Labour this time because he was disenchanted by the politics of the major parties. He said he was also disappointed by the actions of Mr. Amesbury, the fallen Labour incumbent whom he knew personally and had supported. Instead, Mr. Alosta planned to vote for the Workers Party, a fringe party led by the left-wing firebrand, George Galloway.
In addition to the Runcorn special election, voters were electing council members in 24 municipalities in parts of England, as well as six regional mayors: in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; Doncaster; North Tyneside; the West of England; Hull and East Yorkshire; and Greater Lincolnshire.
In the first of the mayoral results, Labour won in North Tyneside, the West of England and Doncaster, with Reform performing strongly and coming second in all three regions.
