Reform UK and Restore Britain shared a significant portion of the vote between them.
A Labour candidate has won a by-election by securing more than 34% of the total votes, while Reform UK and Restore Britain collectively secured 56% of ballots cast, splitting a large share of the vote between them during the contest. Voters in Hyndburn, Lancashire, elected Jackie Rawstron as the new councillor for the Huncoat ward following the death of long-serving Labour representative Dave Parkins.
Mr Rawstron won with 318 votes, with Reform UK second on 275 and Restore Britain on 257, while the Conservatives took 74 votes. The campaign was not without controversy after Reform UK county councillor Joel Tetlow called the visually impaired candidate a “Stevie Wonder lookalike” online, prompting condemnation, only for some of her own social media posts to be made public, allegedly of a similar nature.
She was suspended by the Labour party during the campaign for an investigation to take place into those posts, but could not be removed as a candidate as this happened after she had been nominated.
The leader of Restore Britain, Rupert Lowe took to X after his party secured 28% of the vote to call the result “astonishing” and said: “we are going to take our country back.”
In a statement Reform UK said: “The results in Hyndburn are clear: a vote for anyone other than Reform UK in Lancashire is a vote to keep Labour.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage delivers a speech at a press conference (Image: Getty)
Councillor Munsif Dad, Labour leader of Hyndburn Borough Council said: “Reform and Restore can make plenty of noise, but they still haven’t won this by-election, voters have seen through the slogans and chosen to reject them.”
Labour also secured a significant by-election victory in the Prime Minister’s political heartland of Wigan, winning the Hindley Green contest following the death of veteran councillor Bob Brierley.
Labour candidate John Vickers emerged victorious with 1,201 votes, comfortably ahead of Reform UK’s Bonnie Clarke, who finished second on 887 votes.
The result marked Labour’s first electoral success in Wigan this year after the party endured a disastrous performance in May’s local elections, losing every one of the 25 seats up for grabs on the council.
Located entirely within the Makerfield parliamentary constituency, the Hindley Green ward was viewed as an important test of support for Prime Minister Andy Burnham in his own political backyard.
The by-election outcome comes just months after Reform dominated May’s elections, winning 24 of the 25 contested seats across the borough.