Reform UK Wins Seats in British Local Elections

Reform UK secured hundreds of seats and control of additional councils across England in local elections held on Thursday, dealing heavy losses to both the ruling Labour Party and the Conservatives. Nigel Farage said the outcome represented a historic shift away from traditional two-party dominance.

The party gained control of its first London borough in Havering, made strong advances in Essex and Suffolk, and picked up seats from Labour in the Midlands and northern England. Labour lost control of several councils including Hartlepool, Tameside, Redditch and Tamworth.

In Wigan, where a third of seats were contested, Reform UK won 24 out of 25 available seats, sharply reducing Labour's majority on the council. Control of Newcastle-under-Lyme passed from the Conservatives to Reform UK. Farage told supporters after the Havering result that his party had shown it could win in both longstanding Conservative areas and places that Labour had dominated since the end of World War I.

>"What's happened is a truly historic shift in British politics. " — Nigel Farage (BBC News) The Reform leader added that voters were not offering one-off support but were becoming committed backers. He described the party's performance as competitive from southwest England to northeast Scotland.

Reform's home affairs spokesperson told the BBC the party saw itself as competitive in Scotland and with a real chance of becoming the largest party in Wales.

Labour has suffered a net loss of nearly 500 council seats with just over half the results declared. Multiple Labour MPs called for the prime minister to set a timeline for his departure, saying voters felt let down by the direction the government had taken.

The prime minister accepted responsibility for the losses but said he was not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos. He has not explicitly ruled out a managed exit. The Conservatives have seen a net loss of roughly 300 seats so far. Both major parties lost support to Reform UK on the right and to the Green Party and independent candidates on the left, particularly in urban areas and near universities.