Nigel Farage’s insurgent anti-immigration party, Reform U.K., scored a significant, if narrow, victory Friday in a parliamentary special election in the northwest of England, serving notice that Mr. Farage, a populist fixture and close ally of President Trump, is again a rising force in British politics.
Reform’s candidate, Sarah Pochin, won by a razor-thin margin of six votes over her Labour Party opponent, Karen Shore, in Runcorn and Helsby, seizing what had been a safe seat for Labour until the incumbent, Mike Amesbury, was forced to resign after being convicted of assault for punching one of his constituents.
On a night of high drama, the outcome was so close that the vote had to be recounted, delaying the declaration of the result for several hours. But the victory was the first of what could be an impressive show of strength by Reform in mayoral and local council elections held Thursday across England.
More than 1,600 municipal seats are up for grabs, and polls suggest that Reform could win at least 300 of them, with a total vote share that equals, or even exceeds, that of the governing Labour Party, and the main opposition party, the Conservatives.
If Reform’s gains are borne out as the ballots are counted throughout Friday, it would deliver a significant jolt to British politics, potentially accelerating the country’s shift toward a more polarized, multiparty system.
For Prime Minister Keir Starmer, it would be a setback in his party’s first electoral test since Labour swept to power last July. The Conservatives, still licking their wounds after last summer’s stinging defeat, would find themselves even more vulnerable to a threat from Reform. And Mr. Farage could make a plausible case that Reform is emerging as a genuine rival to both major parties.