The Conservatives have lost control of Surrey County Council for the first time in almost 30 years after by-election defeats to Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats.
Nigel Farage’s party picked up the Addlestone ward in a poll on Thursday, while the Lib Dems gained the Hinchley Wood, Claygate, and Oxshott seat from the Tories.
The local authority has run by a Conservative majority since 1997, but now no party has overall control.
Scott Kelly took the Addlestone seat for Reform with 931 votes (34%). The Conservative’s vote share dropped almost 26% percentage points, pushing the party into second place with candidate Shannon Saise-Marshall picking up 659 votes (24%).
In Hinchley Wood, Claygate and Oxshott, Lib Dem Andy Burton got 1656 votes (38%) compared to Conservative Andrew Burley’s 1346 (31%).
Reform ousted the Tories in a further two polls held on Thursday in the Addlestone South ward on Runnymede Borough Council in Surrey.
A Liberal Democrat source said on Friday: “[Tory leader] Kemi Badenoch has presided over a Surrey shambles. If the Conservatives cannot keep control of Surrey, nowhere is safe for them.
“Voters in Surrey are backing the Liberal Democrats' community politics over the Conservatives, just as they did in the General Election.”
It comes after Mr Farage’s party won its first London by-election in a major blow to the Conservatives last month.
Mr Farage’s party stormed to victory in the poll in Bromley on July
Reform has a handful of councillors in the capital, but all so far have defected from other parties.
Alan Cook took the Bromley Common and Holwood ward with 1,342 votes (34%).
Tory candidate Ian Payne, a former councillor and Salvation Army minister, saw his party’s vote share drop almost 12 percentage points, coming in second with 1,161 votes (29.4%).
The Conservatives failed to retain the seat despite sources claiming the party “threw the kitchen at the campaign”.
London Labour MP Liam Conlon issued a stark warning after the result
The Beckenham and Penge MP said he feared the win marked "the start of a new trend" in voting patterns in the capital and Labour must take the threat "seriously".
