Reform UK have suffered what could very well be their worst night since the general election.
In the early hours of Friday morning, Labour’s Burnham stormed to victory in the Makerfield by-election, winning 55% of the vote.
The win sees him return to Parliament and paves the way for him to challenge Keir Starmer as Labour leader.
When the vote was announced last month, it had been expected that Reform would present a stern challenger to Burnham in the election, given the pro-Brexit sentiment in Makerfield and the success Reform saw in the area at May’s local elections.
But in the end, the result wasn’t even close, with Burnham beating Reform’s Robert Kenyon by more than 9,000 votes (24,937 to 15,696).
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In fact, the scale of the defeat has More in Common’s Luke Tryl some to suggest it was Reform’s worst night since the 2024 General Election.
The UK director of the polling company highlighted that Reform had seen “barely any increase in their vote share in Makerfield, a seat that had been “one of their best second places in 2024.”
But it wasn’t just in Makerfield where Reform should have cause for concern. Tryl pointed out the Conservative Party’s by-election win in Aberdeen South overnight could be a sign of “proof of life and momentum” for Kemi Badenoch’s party.
Not only could the Tories start winning back voters from Reform, but the ugly head of Restore Britain also seems to be leaching hard-right votes from Reform.
Rupert Lowe’s party won just under 7% of the vote in Makerfield, which in a fragmented political landscape could be a significant enough vote share to torpedo Reform’s election hopes, as some had thought might happen in Makerfield.
There was a third Westminster by-election last night as well, in the Scottish constituency of Arbroath and Broughty.
Here, the SNP held onto the seat, and Reform finished in third place, behind the Tories as well.
So, it was three defeats from three in Westminster by-elections for Farage’s gang.
But it gets even worse for Reform, who also managed to lose two council seats to the Conservatives on Thursday night.
This may very well have been the night that the wind left the Reform UK sails.