Labour faces massive wake-up call with Nigel Farage's Reform party now the coming force in British politics

Keir Starmer needs to start delivering on Labour’s promises soon or Reform’s rise will continue

To those jaded souls who insist that voting doesn’t matter, the Runcorn and Helsby byelection provides a rejoinder. Sarah Pochin, the Reform UK candidate, won the seat with 38.7 per cent of the vote, a mere six votes ahead of Labour.

With a turnout of 46.2 per cent, this means Pochin is now an MP because less than 18 per cent of the electorate backed her. Hardly a ringing endorsement or much of a mandate but, still, her opponents did even worse.

And Reform’s stunning performances in council elections south of the Border show the depths of public anger with the two main UK parties. Labour’s difficult return to government has clearly lost them many friends, while the Conservatives risk being torn apart by the unlikely combination of Reform and the Liberal Democrats, with the latter benefiting from moderate Tories in despair over Kemi Badenoch’s ‘Reform-lite’ approach.

READ MORE: Reform local elections: What dominance of Nigel Farage's party means for Scotland and SNP

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage visits The Big Club in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, after his party won a by-election and took hundreds of council seats (Picture: Owen Humphreys) | PA

SNP to benefit from Reform’s rise

Whole swathes of England, including Kent, Lancashire, Durham and Derbyshire, are about to discover what it’s like to be governed by Nigel Farage’s party. Albeit this is on a local level, it should open the party up to considerably more scrutiny than it has been experiencing.

In Scotland, Reform will be celebrating, but so may the SNP as their re-election next year now looks more likely. Given their momentum, Reform may well take more votes from the Conservatives and Labour, further splitting the unionist vote.

As Reform increasingly demonstrates it is a serious political force, despite its absence of serious policies on key issues, the UK really could be looking at the end of the two-party system that has dominated for so long, as polls have been suggesting.

Thursday’s election results represent a massive wake-up call to political leaders and voters alike. The pressure on Labour to start delivering on its promises to revitalise the country is now immense.

If Labour fails as badly in government as the Conservatives did, Farage’s boast that he will be the next Prime Minister may not prove to be as empty as it appeared. No one should be in any doubt that populism is now the coming force in British politics.