Labour and Tories brace for major backlash from voters in favour of

For all the latest developments follow our MailOnline election live blog

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is expected to be the major winner in elections tonight as disaffected voters hammer Labour and the Conservatives.

The hard right party is expected to get its hands on real political power for the first time with wins in mayoral and council elections at the expense of Kemi Badenoch’s war-weary Tories.

Former Tory minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns is expected to become mayor of Greater Lincolnshire and former Olympic boxer Luke Campbell is in with a chance of winning in Hull and East Yorkshire.

Reform is also expected to win hundreds of council seats, mainly at the expense of the Tories, who are expected to lose up to 500 councillors.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately told BBC Newsnight the party was on course for ‘a bit of a battering’.

But the party could also give Sir Keir Starmer a real bloody nose in Labour’s first test since the general election, after months in which the government’s approval rating has plummeted.

As well as local elections, Reform are the bookies’ favourite in a by-election in Runcorn and Helsby, a previously safe Labour seat in the North West that could now go either way.

Mr Farage said he wanted to ‘smash the two-party system’, adding: ‘The two major parties are more fearful of the results tonight than we are.’

The hard right party is expected to get its hands on real political power for the first time with wins in mayoral and council elections at the expense of Kemi Badenoch’s war-weary Tories.

Reform is also expected to win hundreds of council seats, mainly at the expense of the Tories. But the party could also give Sir Keir Starmer a real bloody nose in Labour’s first test since the general election, after months in which the government’s approval rating has plummeted.

As well as local elections , Reform are the bookies’ favourite in a by-election in Runcorn and Helsby, a previously safe Labour seat in the North West that could now go either way.

Senior Labour sources have also suggested Reform could win Durham Council, which would raise eyebrows as it is an area where the party would expect to do well.

On Sir Keir’s left flank, the party’s Helen Godwin is also being pushed in the race to become mayor of the West of England by the Green Party’s Mary Page.

Reform UK won three of the first five wards declared at Northumberland County Council, with Labour and the Conservatives picking up one each.

It also picked up seats in Norwich and Hartlepool.

Voters are heading to the polls across England today in 23 council elections, six mayoral contests, and one parliamentary by-election.

Nigel Farage says the NHS should NOT be funded from general taxation because it ‘isn’t working’

Up for grabs are more than 1,600 council seats, half-a-dozen regional mayors, and the new MP for Runcorn and Helsby.

It is the first big test for Britain’s political parties since last July’s general election, at which Labour secured a landslide win.

Results are not expected to start dropping until around 2am, with mayors and the by-election first.

Council votes will come in later on Friday as they will not start being counted until the morning.

The parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby was triggered by Mike Amesbury’s resignation from the House of Commons.

It came after he was jailed for 10 weeks for punching a constituent while drunk in Frodsham, Cheshire, last October.

Amesbury spent three nights in HMP Altcourse, Merseyside, in February before successfully appealing his sentence.

Former Tory minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns (top) is expected to become mayor of Greater Lincolnshire and former Olympic boxer Luke Campbell (above) is in with a chance of winning in Hull and East Yorkshire.

He won Runcorn and Helsby for Labour at July’s general election with a 14,696-vote majority.

Reform came second to Labour in the Cheshire constituency last summer, while the Tories came third – more than 900 votes behind Reform.

Labour has the most seats on Durham Council (52 out of 126), but has been shut out of power for the past four years by a multi-party coalition that includes the Tories, the Lib Dems, Greens and various independents.

Before losing control in 2021, Labour had enjoyed a majority in Durham continuously since 1925.

At this election the council is being reduced in size from 126 to 98 seats, which makes the outcome hard to predict. Labour will hope to regain full control, but is facing a new challenge from Reform.

One senior Labour source told MailOnline: ‘Durham could be a bigger story than Runcorn. The results were awful last time, I think they will be worse this time. Reform has an outside chance of running the council. Considering we ran the show for 102 years up to 2021 it’ll be devastating.’

Labour chairwoman Ellie Reeves struck a cautious note tonight, saying the elections ‘were always going to be a challenge’, with most being held in Tory areas last contested in 2021.

Meanwhile a Tory spokesman added: ‘We also have always been clear that these would be tough elections for the party – defending an incredibly high watermark from 2021 when we took two-thirds of all seats.

‘If the 2024 General Election was replicated on today’s battleground, we would lose control of almost every single council.

‘Labour won a historic supermajority last year in a large number of areas that are facing local elections tonight and it would be reasonable to expect a government with such a commanding presence in Westminster to make serious progress tonight.

‘Anything less than this ought to raise serious questions about the direction Labour is taking this country, and about Keir Starmer’s own leadership.’

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey was optimistic about his party’s prospects as polls closed.

‘We are expecting to see big gains against the Conservatives in their former Middle England heartlands,’ he said.

‘Last year the Liberal Democrats won a record number of MPs and became the largest third party in 100 years. Now we are on course for our seventh year of local election gains, making this our best ever winning streak.

‘Voters have delivered their verdict on a Conservative Party that broke the country and a Labour government that is too timid to fix it.’

Elections timetable

10pm Thursday

Polling stations close.

Counting begins in the Runcorn & Helsby by-election and in four of the six mayoral contests: Doncaster, Greater Lincolnshire, North Tyneside and West of England.

Four of the 23 local authorities holding elections will start counting: Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland and Staffordshire.

Only one, Northumberland, is due to report all its results overnight; the other three will announce some results overnight, with the rest of the seats being declared later on Friday.

2am Friday

Results are due around this time for two of the mayoral contests.

North Tyneside is one of Labour’s north-east heartlands and the party’s candidate Karen Clark is favourite to win, though a low turnout may mean the result is closer than expected.

The West of England mayor could be a tight race between Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens; Labour’s chances may be affected by the outgoing mayor, Dan Norris, being suspended from the party after he was arrested on suspicion of sexual offences.

3am

Counting should be over in the Runcorn & Helsby by-election, which was triggered by the resignation of the previous MP, Mike Amesbury, after he was given a suspended prison sentence for punching a man in a street in Frodsham, Cheshire.

The result this time is expected to be much closer, with Reform hoping to pull off a shock win.

3.30am

Greater Lincolnshire is one of two new mayoral positions being contested for the first time and is likely to be a two-horse race between the Conservatives and Reform.

The Tories have picked the leader of North Lincolnshire council Rob Waltham, while the Reform candidate is former Tory MP Dame Andrea Jenkyns.

5am

The result of the Doncaster mayoral election is due, with Labour’s Ros Jones hoping for a fourth term in office.

7am

A full set of council results should be in for Northumberland, which is currently run by a Conservative minority administration.

Labour is the main opposition and will hope to improve its standing, though Reform and independent candidates could also make gains, ensuring the council remains in no overall control.

9am

Ballot papers will start to be counted around this time for the remaining two mayoral contests in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough and Hull & East Yorkshire.

Counting will also get under way in those local authorities that did not begin overnight.

1pm

The full result is due for Durham council, where Labour is currently the largest party but does not have a majority and has been shut out of power for the past four years by a multi-party coalition that includes the Tories, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and various independents.

Labour will hope to regain full control, but is facing an added challenge this time from Reform.

1.45pm

The Tories could see their tiny majority vanish in Lancashire, where Labour, Reform and independent candidates are all hoping to make advances.

2.30pm

The result is due for the new Hull & East Yorkshire mayor.

The Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems all enjoy support in different parts of this region, while Reform has picked former boxer and Olympic medallist Luke Campbell as its candidate.

3pm

The pace begins to pick up with three councils due to finish declaring.

Doncaster is the only local authority Labour is defending at these elections, but the party faces a big threat from Reform, which is treating the council as a top target.

The Tories are likely to see their numbers cut in both Buckinghamshire and Leicestershire, but could well remain the largest party on both councils.

The result is also due for the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough mayor, which was won by Labour’s Nik Johnson in 2021 but he is not standing this time, and where both the Tories and Lib Dems fancy their chances.

4pm

The losses could start to mount for the Conservatives.

The Lib Dems are hoping to replace the Tories as the largest party in Gloucestershire and Hertfordshire and could make major gains on both councils.

In Shropshire the Conservatives may lose power thanks to a challenge from the Lib Dems, Labour and smaller parties, though they could hang on in Staffordshire where they have a large majority.

4.30pm

Labour did well in the county of Derbyshire at the general election and is hoping to pick up seats on the council this year.

With the Lib Dems and Reform also eyeing gains, the Tories may lose overall control.

5pm

A string of results could bring more gloom for the Conservatives.

Reform is threatening to eat into the Tories’ large presence in Lincolnshire and North Northamptonshire, while the Conservatives’ tiny majority in Nottinghamshire is likely to evaporate in the face of challenges from Reform, Labour and local independents.

The Lib Dems hope to chip away at the Tory numbers in Warwickshire and do well enough in Oxfordshire to take majority control.

In Worcestershire, the story could be one of multiple parties gaining at the Conservatives’ expense, particularly the Greens and Reform.

6pm

More Tory losses may come in Cornwall, where the party has minority control of the council but faces twin threats from the Liberal Democrats and independents.

The Lib Dems are also hoping to wipe out the Conservatives’ majority in Devon and make gains at the Tories’ expense in Wiltshire.

In Cambridgeshire, the Lib Dems are currently the largest party but do not have a majority and will be keen to improve their position.

7pm

The final results are due from Kent and West Northamptonshire: two councils where the Tories currently have a majority but where they face challenges from more than one party.

Reform and Labour are hoping to advance in both areas, while Kent could see gains for the Lib Dems, Greens and independent candidates.

Labour and Tories brace for major backlash from voters in favour of Reform as counting begins in potentially seismic elections – and Nigel Farage says the two main parties have 'more to fear' than him

Read More

Nigel Farage says the NHS should NOT be funded from general taxation because it ‘isn’t working’

Elections timetable