Meanwhile, the Lib Dems held two seats and gained two more in other council by-elections.

It comes ahead of May’s local elections, where Reform and the Greens are hoping to make major gains.

“We have been a very great country, we still are a very great people, but we’ve lost the sense of belief in ourselves,” he told the audience of party members and supporters.

“We have been badly led by weak leaders who don’t believe in Britain, who don’t believe in the British people, who are gutless and filled with cowardice.”

Polling expert Lord Hayward said earlier this week that the local elections will be “truly national”.

There is intense speculation that embattled Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer could be forced out of No 10 as Labour is expected to face a bloodbath.

Reform UK Wins Council By-Election in Latest Boost for Nigel Farage

Reform UK has secured another council by-election victory, adding to a series of recent local successes for Nigel Farage’s party and providing fresh evidence of the increasingly fragmented nature of British politics.

The latest result came in East Markham, a ward on Bassetlaw District Council in Nottinghamshire and within the parliamentary constituency associated with Conservative politician Robert Jenrick. Reform candidate Matthew Evans won 436 votes, almost half of all ballots cast. The Conservatives finished second with 250 votes, Labour received 151 and the Greens 42.

The result was particularly notable because the Conservatives had previously held the ward for more than two decades. At the 2023 election, the party won around 66 per cent of the vote, while this time its share fell to about 28 per cent. Reform was standing in the ward for the first time.

For Farage, the victory provided another opportunity to argue that Reform is reshaping the electoral landscape beyond Westminster.

He described the result as an “excellent win” and highlighted the scale of the change in support between the two elections. Robert Jenrick also responded to the result, congratulating Evans and describing the swing from the Conservatives to Reform as significant.

A Significant Local Result

Council by-elections rarely receive the same attention as parliamentary elections, but they can provide useful snapshots of local political sentiment.

The East Markham result is especially interesting because it involved a ward that had traditionally been strongly Conservative.

In 2023, Conservative support was dominant. Two years later, the party’s vote share had more than halved, while Reform immediately moved into first place.

The numbers show the scale of the change.

Reform: 436 votes
Conservative: 250 votes
Labour: 151 votes
Green: 42 votes

The result gave Reform a clear plurality in the ward, while the Conservatives moved into second place.

However, it is important not to treat a single ward as a direct measurement of national opinion. Local by-elections can be influenced by individual candidates, local issues, turnout, campaign organisation and circumstances surrounding the vacancy.

Nevertheless, repeated results can form part of a broader picture.

And the East Markham contest was not Reform’s only recent council by-election success.

A Series of Reform Gains

Just days earlier, Reform UK won two other council by-elections.

In Eckington South and Renishaw in North East Derbyshire, Jamie Hodgson won after Reform received around 40 per cent of the vote. Labour, which had won the ward previously with 60 per cent, fell to approximately 28 per cent.

In Hutton and Locking in North Somerset, William Jones won for Reform with around 38 per cent. The Conservatives, who had previously taken approximately 37 per cent, fell to around 15 per cent.

The results were notable because Reform had not previously contested either ward with a significant vote share.

In Eckington, the party went from effectively no previous vote base to first place.

In Hutton and Locking, the same pattern occurred against a previously competitive Conservative position.

The party’s recent local performance therefore extends beyond a single constituency or region.

What Farage Says the Results Mean

Farage has interpreted the results as evidence of growing support for Reform UK.

Following the earlier September victories, he described the wins as “brilliant Reform wins”. Reform’s own account of the results argued that voters were increasingly willing to move away from both Labour and the Conservatives.

This interpretation forms a central part of Reform’s political message.

The party seeks to position itself as a challenger to the established parties, particularly in areas where voters have historically supported the Conservatives or Labour.

The local election results provide examples of that strategy in practice.

But the electoral meaning of the results should be separated from the party’s political interpretation.

A by-election demonstrates how people voted in one particular contest at one particular moment. It does not automatically establish why every voter made that decision or predict how the same electorate would vote in a future general election.

The Conservative Challenge

The East Markham result will attract particular attention within Conservative circles because of the ward’s previous voting history.

The Conservatives had held the seat for more than twenty years, and their 2023 performance had given them a substantial lead.

The collapse in their vote share in the latest contest therefore represents a major change at ward level.

The party’s challenge is not simply competition with Labour.

Reform has increasingly contested traditionally Conservative territory, particularly in parts of England where voters have concerns about taxation, immigration, public services and the direction of national government.

That creates a more complicated electoral environment for Conservative candidates.

Instead of facing a straightforward contest against Labour, Conservatives can find themselves competing with Reform for voters who might previously have been regarded as relatively secure supporters.

The East Markham result illustrates how that dynamic can operate locally.

Reform’s Wider Local Government Expansion

The latest victory also needs to be viewed against Reform’s broader performance during 2026.

At the May local elections, Reform won hundreds of council seats and gained control of several local authorities. ITV reported that the party gained control of councils including Newcastle-under-Lyme, Essex, Havering, Suffolk and Sunderland.

That represented a major expansion of Reform’s presence in local government.

The party’s subsequent council by-election victories show that its local electoral activity has continued beyond the main May contests.

This matters because building a political organisation at council level can provide candidates, councillors, campaign infrastructure and local visibility.

For a relatively young party, those resources can be important.

At the same time, managing local councils creates a different set of responsibilities from campaigning nationally.

Once a party controls councils, voters can judge it not only on national promises but also on decisions involving budgets, services, planning, waste collection, local taxation and other responsibilities.

The transition from challenger party to governing party at local level can therefore change the political environment.

Why By-Elections Matter

By-elections are unusual electoral contests.

Turnout is frequently lower than at general elections, and voters may have more freedom to experiment with their choice.

A candidate’s personal reputation can also play a larger role.

Local issues can dominate.

For those reasons, analysts generally treat individual by-election results cautiously.

However, they can also expose changes that might otherwise remain hidden.

If a party repeatedly performs strongly in different areas and against different opponents, those results can provide evidence that its support is not confined to a single locality.

The recent Reform victories in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and North Somerset therefore attract attention partly because they occurred in different regions and involved different previous political patterns.

That does not establish a uniform national trend by itself, but it does demonstrate that Reform is capable of winning local contests outside its strongest existing areas.

The Importance of Candidate Campaigns

Candidates also matter.

Matthew Evans was the person elected in East Markham, rather than Nigel Farage himself.

That distinction is important.

Farage is the party’s national leader and one of Britain’s most recognisable political figures, but council elections are ultimately decided by local voters choosing among local candidates.

A successful candidate must therefore build a local campaign, engage with residents and persuade voters to participate.

Reform’s ability to translate its national profile into local victories may depend partly on whether it can consistently recruit and organise candidates capable of doing this.

The same principle applies to Labour and the Conservatives.

National political brands matter, but local elections remain contests involving individual people and specific communities.

A Changing Political Map

The East Markham result also highlights the increasingly fragmented nature of British politics.

For decades, many local constituencies were dominated by Labour or Conservative candidates.

That pattern has become less predictable.

The emergence of Reform and the Greens, alongside continuing Liberal Democrat strength in some regions, means that voters have more significant alternatives than in previous political eras.

This fragmentation can make elections harder to interpret.

A party can lose support without another traditional major party necessarily benefiting.

Instead, votes can be divided among several challengers.

In East Markham, for example, Reform finished first, the Conservatives second, Labour third and the Greens fourth.

The result therefore reflects competition across four parties rather than a traditional two-party contest.

Farage’s National Strategy

For Farage, local victories provide another platform for his national political project.

Reform’s strategy has increasingly involved building a presence across England and Wales while maintaining its profile in Westminster.

Farage returned to Parliament after winning the Clacton by-election in August 2026. Reform said his victory was decisive and that he subsequently resumed his role as the constituency’s MP.

The combination of parliamentary representation, council seats and local election victories gives Reform a broader political footprint than it had several years ago.

But expansion also brings challenges.

The more councillors and elected representatives a party has, the more closely their behaviour and performance will be scrutinised.

Internal disagreements, local controversies and administrative decisions can become national stories.

Reform has already acknowledged internally that managing its rapidly expanding organisation is an important challenge. Reporting in August described training material warning activists about internal disputes and social-media behaviour.

That illustrates an important transition for the party.

A movement that wins seats must eventually demonstrate how it uses those seats.

The Meaning for Future Elections

It would be premature to treat the East Markham result as a prediction of a future general election.

The contest was local, the electorate was limited and the circumstances were specific.

However, the result does provide concrete evidence that Reform can win council seats in areas where it previously had little or no electoral base.

That is a meaningful development in the party’s organisational growth.

The question now is whether such victories can be repeated across a larger number of constituencies and local authorities.

That will depend on factors including candidate recruitment, campaigning, national political developments, competing parties and voter priorities.

It will also depend on whether voters who support Reform in local contests maintain that preference when faced with a parliamentary election.

Conclusion

Reform UK’s victory in East Markham has added another notable result to the party’s growing collection of council by-election successes.

Matthew Evans secured 436 votes, almost half of the ballots cast, while the Conservatives finished on 250, Labour on 151 and the Greens on 42. The Conservatives’ share fell dramatically compared with their 2023 performance, when they had dominated the ward.

The result followed Reform victories in Eckington South and Renishaw and Hutton and Locking earlier in September, suggesting that the party’s local campaigning operation is becoming increasingly active across different parts of England.

For Nigel Farage, each victory provides an opportunity to argue that Reform’s political reach is expanding.

For the Conservatives, the results demonstrate the pressure created by a new competitor in areas where the party previously enjoyed substantial support.

For Labour and other parties, the rise of Reform adds another dimension to an already fragmented electoral landscape.

But the most important fact is perhaps the simplest: a party that once had little presence in many local contests is now winning council seats across England.

Whether that development becomes a lasting feature of British politics will depend on what happens next—not only at the ballot box, but also in the councils where Reform representatives now have to govern.

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