Britain’s hard-right anti-immigrant Reform UK party is seeking to prove it is a credible political force in local elections this week that will test the popularity of Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Nigel Farage’s upstart party is pushing to pick up scores of council and mayoral seats, as well as a parliamentary one.
It is aiming to organise a serious grassroots-up challenge at the next general election, which is likely in 2029.
Its rise comes as polls show Britons are increasingly disenchanted with the country’s two establishment parties -- the traditionally centre-left Labour and the right-wing Conservative Party.
At a UK parliamentary by-election on Thursday in Runcorn, an industrial town in northwest England, Reform is tipped to add to its small cohort of MPs, who achieved an unprecedented breakthrough in last year’s national polls.
Reform secured 14 per cent of the vote at the general election in July last year, winning five seats in the 650-seat parliament -- an unprecedented haul for a hard-right party in the UK.
It tapped into opposition to immigration and concerns over a lack of jobs, performing well in areas that have suffered post-industrial decline and where there have been high levels of Euroscepticism.
Brexit champion Farage’s insurgents have since led several opinion polls, despite suspending one of its lawmakers, while Labour has endured a stuttering return to power after 14 years of Conservative government.
On Tuesday, Reform topped the latest YouGov poll of voting intentions in Britain with 26 per cent, three points ahead of Labour and six up on the Conservatives.
Starmer has failed to fire up the economy or reduce the number of irregular migrants arriving in England on boats from France, with almost 10,000 having reached the UK so far this year.
In 2024, that number was reached on May 24, according to interior ministry figures. Labour has also been criticised for welfare cuts, including scrapping a winter heating payment for millions of pensioners at a time when energy prices are high.
The Runcorn and Helsby by-election was sparked by Labour MP Mike Amesbury quitting after he received a suspended jail sentence for punching a man in a brawl.
Labour won the Runcorn constituency with a 53-per cent vote share in July, while Reform finished a distant second with just 18 per cent. But Starmer acknowledged on Monday the Runcorn by-election was “going to be tough”. — AFP
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