United Kingdom

There is also a byelection on Thursday, in Runcorn and Helsby, where Labour had a majority of almost 15,000 at the last election. The constituency is counting overnight, which means that on Friday morning, when a lot of the local election results won’t yet be in (many councils count on the Friday, not overnight, because it is easier), the election night narrative will be determined largely by the Runcorn result. Reform UK hope they can win, and that would be a formidable show of strength (even though parties that pull off amazing byelection victories don’t normally perform so well at general elections). Given what has happened to the Westminster expectations thermometer, even a narrow Labour win would be a good result for Keir Starmer.

And the Conservatives? According to Labour, they have given up totally in the seat. This is what Ellie Reeves, Labour’s chair, told HuffPost UK.

The Tories aren’t doing anything. [Tory MP] Esther McVey basically said the Tories should sit it out and let Reform win, and we’re seeing that on the ground.

They’re not doing any work on the ground at all, it looks like they’re just gifting it to Reform.

Reeves, of course, has got an incentive to maximise the ‘Keep Reform out’ vote in Runcorn. But that does not mean she’s wrong, and it would be surprising if she is. The Tories wrote off their chances in this seat some time ago, and it would make sense for them to deploy campaign resources elsewhere.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/apr/29/labour-tory-reform-lib-dem-local-elections-kemi-badenoch-nigel-farage-keir-starmer-uk-politics-latest-live-news?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-681079f28f082de087ab9b8c#block-681079f28f082de087ab9b8c