Liberal Democrats and Reform UK on the rise

📅 02/05/2025 18:48 👁️ 3420 Views

A Former Conservative Councillor, Sarah Pochin wins Runcorn and Helsby for Reform UK by just 6 votes after a dramatic recount.

Reform UK has also now got the only Major who isn't representing Labour or Conservative. Taking Greater Lincolnshire, another former Conservative, Dame Jenkyns secured 8 out of 9 areas to become the county's 1st Elected Mayor.

After other gains across England, Reform UK's results have heightened the Government's fears it could lose scores of MPs to Nigel Farage's party at the next General Election. So much so that Sir Keir Starmer has now vows to go:- "Further and faster on the change that people want to see" after Labour lost the Runcorn and Helmsby.

The Liberal Democrats are also making fantastic gains despite Reform UK hitting the headlines. Their rise is also sending shock waves throughout the political landscape. And, the next General Election could see a major shift, with the 2 becoming the main political parties.

Is this rise of both Reform UK and Liberal Democrats just a protest move against the 2 main parties in the UK or something more?

Interestingly, many political pundits now see Nigel Farage's party a major challenge to traditional UK politics. The rise of Reform UK is not just being seen as a warning to both Conservative and Labour, but also a litmus test for the changing mood of the Country. As more and more people feel the Government is disconnected with the electorate, should the rise of Donald Trump in America serve as a caution to the UK?

Runcorn and Helsby By-Election results are as follows:-
Candidate	Party	Votes
Catherine Blaiklock	English Democrats	95
Dan Clarke	The Liberal Party	454
Chris Copeman	Green Party	2314
Paul Michael Duffy	Liberal Democrats	942
Peter Ford	Workers Party of Britain	164
Howling Laud Hope	The Official Monster Raving Loony Party	128
Sean Houlston	Conservative and Unionist Party	2341
Jason Philip Hughes	Volt United Kingdom	54
Alan McKie	Independent	269
Graham Harry Moore	English Constitution Party	50
Paul Andrew Murphy	Social Democratic Party	68
Sarah Joanne Pochin	Reform UK	12645
Karen Louise Shore	Labour Party	12639
John Stevens	Rejoin EU	129
Michael Williams	Independent	363
	Turnout =	46.33%

The number of ballot papers rejected was as follows:-	Number of ballot papers
A Want of an official mark.	0
B Voting for more Candidates than voter was entitled to.	25
C Writing or mark by which voter could be identified.	1
D Being unmarked or wholly void due to uncertainty.	59
	85

Totals:-

Electorate =: 70,666.
Ballot Papers Issued = 32,740.
Turnout = 46.33%.

The Runcorn and Helsby By-Election Results can be prineted off from this .PDF link or seen on the Council's website.

Community Comments

Political Watcher02/05/2025 19:38

It is a worry to see this happening. We are needing to get closer to Europe more than ever, yet Reform UK is getting more votes? Why have we not seen what a mess the US has with Trump and done the sums? We are sadly being driven by US driven media and US social media, and that is giving us a very bad impression of what's going on and how to fix it. We need careful consideration when voting. As the country, we need to wake up, or we risk a Donald Trump mess on our hands. Yes, Labour has and is messing up the UK, and the Conservatives are still out of touch... It is good to see that LibDems are starting to get serious now, and so are the Green Party, who did far better than the LibDems in Runcorn. But, looking at the names of the 'Parties' many are very similar, and people rushing might not have known which party is the party they want. This might have played into the hands of Reform UK. For example:- Liberal Democrats and English Democrats.

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