By Andrew MacAskill
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s right-wing Reform UK party made early gains in local election results on Friday and was ahead by just four votes in a battle for a seat in parliament in the first major electoral test since last year’s general election.
The populist Reform, led by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, hopes a strong performance in English local elections to be announced through Friday will mark the start of the breakdown of Britain’s century-old two-party political system, dominated by the governing Labour Party and opposition Conservatives.
In the most closely watched contest for the parliamentary seat of Runcorn and Helsby, a full recount of votes was ordered because the result was so close. Farage said his party was ahead by four votes in the first count.
“Labour have demanded a recount. We are very confident we have won,” Farage said on X.
If the contest is decided by that margin, it would be the closest by-election result in British history.
The tight race in what was previously a safe Labour seat underlines the way Britain’s political landscape has fractured since the general election. Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer won one of the largest parliamentary majorities in British history last summer but has suffered the fastest decline in popularity of any newly elected government.
Starmer, a former lawyer before turning to politics, has seen his government suffer a steep fall in support after it raised taxes, cut benefits for the elderly, and got into a row over the use of donations, giving an opening to Farage, who is a friend of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Voters cast their ballots on Thursday for more than 1,600 seats on local authorities across England and six high-profile mayoral elections.
Runcorn and Helsby was the only parliamentary seat up for grabs after the Labour lawmaker quit following his conviction for punching one of his constituents.
The former Conservative minister Andrea Jenkyns, who lost her seat at the national election last year and defected to Reform, was far ahead in the race to be named the first mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.
If she wins, this would be Reform’s most powerful elected position yet with responsibility for an area covering about a million people.
Reform, founded as the Brexit Party in 2018 and written off in its early years as a one-issue party only interested in immigration, has seen a surge in its support over recent months, overtaking Britain’s two main parties in some opinion polls.
The party hopes the results on Friday will give it a chance to build up its local infrastructure and cement its place as the best positioned party to challenge Labour and the Conservatives at the next national election expected in 2029.
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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