Tory defector Lee Anderson wins & Farage hails ‘something fundamental is happening’ as Reform claim FOUR seats
REFORM UK have now claimed four seats as the nightmare for the Conservative Party continued.
Tory defector Lee Anderson won the first for the party in Ashfield with 17,062 votes.
Meanwhile Reform leader Nigel Farage was elected in Clacton, winning a UK parliamentary seat at his eighth attempt.
Businessman and former Southampton FC chairman Rupert Lowe also won Great Yarmouth, taking the seat from the Conservatives.
Party chairman Richard Tice claimed Boston and Skegness, beating the Tories to secure his party’s fourth seat of the night.
Ex-Tory Deputy Chairman Anderson, who switched from the Conservatives in March, declared Ashfield as the “capital of common sense”.
He sent big thanks to his “wonderful” team who have watched him being “grumpy” over the last six weeks.
Farage tweeted: “Huge congratulations to Lee Anderson. He had the courage to join Reform and has won a great victory.
“Many others who lack his fortitude will lose their seats tonight.”
Reform is on course to claim victory in 13 seats, according to the exit poll – with the party eating into the Tory vote.
This would place them behind Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems but ahead of the SNP, who are forecast to get just ten.
This means Farage is on the cusp of becoming the MP for Clacton after trying and failing to get elected seven times.
Early forecasts also suggested Reform is on course to overtake the Lib Dems as the third force in British politics when it comes to votes cast.
According to the exit poll they will place second in 155 constituencies.
As he waited for his own result, Farage said on X: “This is going to be six million votes-plus. This, folks, is huge.”
Analysis: What comes next?
By Martina Bet
NIGEL Farage’s main goal during the election campaign was to inflict maximum damage to the Tories.
Early results show he has been successful, with Reform eating into the Conservative vote across the country.
While support for the party is too evenly spread to win many seats, it is undeniable “the people’s revolt” has split the rightwing vote and cost the Tories many seats.
Former Defence Secretary Grant Shapps is one of the many who could have retained his seat had Farage’s party not stood.
But now that mission is accomplished, what comes next?
The Brexit champion let it slip during his victory speech: becoming the thorn in Labour’s side.
He issued a stark warning to Sir Keir Starmer, insisting there is no “enthusiasm” for him and that his Government will be “in trouble” very quickly.
Farage also made it clear he wants to use Reform’s results as a springboard for the next election.
He wants to build what he calls a “mass national movement” in order to become a “big enough challenge” for Labour in 2029.
Lots of Brexit-voting constituencies are set to return to Sir Keir’s party today.
With a track record of smashing up the status quo in British politics and his new powerful platform in Parliament, Sir Keir should not -in any way- underestimate the Reform surge.
After the exit poll showed Reform smashing through into Westminster, Farage said: “It’s been amazing.
“We’ll see what happens but if that’s the result that would be a massive first step for this — I’m going to call it a movement — a political party is only part of what we’re all about.
“This is a movement to represent ordinary folk, the silent majority.”
On a historic night:
- Exit polls predicted a huge Labour landslide of 410 seats
- Piers Morgan described it as a ‘political and social earthquake’
- He told our Never Mind The Ballots election show that Sir Keir MUST deliver after the Tory disaster
- A battle for the soul of the Conservative party was already underway
- Cabinet Ministers including Jeremy Hunt and Penny Mordaunt were looking likely to lose their seats
- Mr Farage basked in record swings to his fledgling Reform party
- Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson all-but claimed victory for Labour as she was elected
We have already seen them as the runner up in the first three seats to be announced.
Labour held Sunderland South, represented by Shadow Education Secretary with a majority of 7,100.
But the performance of Reform, which won 11,668, showed the party was on course for bigger showing across the country.
Reform saw similar success in Blyth and Ashington, coming in second place with 10,857 votes, as Labour secured 20,030 votes and the Tories came third with 6,121 votes.
Analysis: Britain will awake to a political earthquake
By Kate Ferguson, Political Editor Sun on Sunday
BRITAIN will wake up tomorrow to a political earthquake.
If the exit poll is right, Labour have stormed to victory with their biggest majority in their 100 year history.
It is a jaw-dropping turnaround from the dark days of the Jeremy Corbyn era of 2019, when the party suffered their worst result in history.
The Tories look set to be decimated. The most successful political party in Europe has been reduced to just a rump of 131 MPs.
Be in no doubt – this is a nightmare for the Conservative Party. They now face the painful task of having to rebuild and choose a new leader.
But the big story of the night is Nigel Farage’s Reform party, who are expected to win a staggering 13 seats.
This political maverick has lobbed a grenade into Westminster – and he is only just getting started.
Reform is expected to win the key seat of Hartlepool – the Red Wall seat in Labour’s old heartlands which turned Tory under Boris Johnson.
Nigel, 60, the godfather of Brexit, is a charismatic leader well trained in waging war on ‘political elites’ from his days in the European Parliament.
He had run and failed to become an MP seven times before.
He has finally won on the eighth attempt – and looks set to have a dozen Reform MPs with him.
He has the potential to change the face of politics forever, Sir Keir Starmer and the next leader of the Tories – whoever that may be – should brace themselves.
The Reform boss had already predicted his party would secure millions of votes but only a handful of parliamentary seats, due to the first-past-the-post voting system which favours the two main parties.
And he has made it clear electoral reform will become central to his party’s post-election campaigning.
Under his leadership, UKIP won 12.6 per cent of the vote in 2015 — but only one seat, in Clacton.
Speaking at his last rally on the eve of the General Election, he warned: “The demand for electoral reform, by this time next week, will be in full cry. It’s coming.”
It is also no secret his sights are set on the next election in five years’ time, as he revealed he plans to challenge to be PM in 2029.
Nigel said success, for him, would be Reform being the catalyst for “a dramatic realignment of the centre-right of British politics”.