The Reform Party’s Sarah Pochin won the Runcorn & Helsby seat in the by-election with 12,645 votes, just ahead of Labour’s Karen Shore, who received 12,639.
That makes it the narrowest win at a by-election since 1945, while also marking Reform’s highest-ever share of the vote in a by-election.
The party took 38.7% of the vote, more than double its previous best performance of 16.9% at Blackpool South in 2024, when they finished in third place.
Here’s what you need to know about the Reform Party and its policies.
Where did Reform UK come from?
It was formed in 2021 as a relaunch of Mr Farage’s previous project, the Brexit Party, which had in turn been founded from the remnants of Ukip.
Latest YouGov voting intention (12-13 Jun): Reform now 1pt ahead of the Tories for the first time, although this is still within the margin of error
— YouGov (@YouGov) June 13, 2024
Con: 18% (no change from 10-11 Jun)
Lab: 37% (-1)
Reform UK: 19% (+2)
Lib Dem: 14% (-1)
Green: 7% (-1)
SNP: 3% (+1)… pic.twitter.com/brNybrUCbC
Mr Farage helped found Ukip in the 1990s, which in later decades ate away at Tory support and proved instrumental in paving the way for the in-out referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.
In the aftermath of Brexit, Mr Farage announced he was quitting for a third time as Ukip leader. As the party descended into infighting, amid claims of a sharp turn to the right, he dramatically announced he was returning to the political front line with the formation of the new Brexit Party.
Mr Farage and Richard Tice in 2020 announced the Brexit Party would be renamed Reform as they railed against Covid-19 lockdowns. Unusually, it was set up as an “entrepreneurial political start-up”, with Mr Farage the company’s majority shareholder and honorary president.
Reform remained relatively unknown until the most recent General Election, despite a major boost with the defection of Tory party deputy chairman Lee Anderson in 2024.
Mr Anderson became the party’s first MP following his suspension from the Conservative Party over comments he made about London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
What happened in the 2024 General Election?
After Rishi Sunak called the General Election in 2024, Mr Farage at first announced he would not stand as a Reform UK candidate, saying he would support his party from the sidelines while focusing on getting Donald Trump re-elected as US president.
But less than two weeks later, he performed a screeching U-turn. Not only would he seek to become the MP for Clacton, but he would do so as leader of Reform UK, replacing former businessman and MEP Mr Tice in the role.
Mr Farage, who has failed in his previous seven attempts to be elected to the Commons, said his decision was motivated by a “terrible sense of guilt” towards his supporters as he vowed to lead a “political revolt”.
His takeover came as a huge blow to Mr Sunak’s already faltering campaign, heightening Tory fears that Reform could snatch voters from the right.
Following the veteran Eurosceptic’s decision to stand, celebrated with great fanfare by party backers in the Essex seat he is hoping to win, Reform began to climb in the polls.
Good morning @RishiSunak. pic.twitter.com/xXagHHH2AT
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) June 14, 2024
The Reform Party managed to raise a considerably larger share of votes than seats won in Parliament, ranking third in vote share with half a million more votes than the Liberal Democrats, who had the third highest seat share.
What are Reform’s policies?
The party will fight the election on immigration, pledging an “employer immigration tax” on companies that choose to employ overseas workers instead of British citizens.
This would see businesses paying a national insurance “premium” of 20% of an employee’s salary, as opposed to 13.8%, if the worker is from overseas.
The party has vowed to freeze lawful immigration with the exception of healthcare and leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
On the economy, Reform has set out an ambition to slash £91 billion off public spending by stopping the Bank of England paying interest on quantitative easing reserves and finding £50 billion of wasteful spending in Whitehall.
The British worker is being suffocated by Tory taxes.
— Reform UK (@reformparty_uk) June 10, 2024
Today, Nigel Farage and Richard Tice pledged to deliver a #GreatBritishTaxCut to British workers, taking 7 million out of income tax to save them thousands of pounds per year.
Vote for Reform UK on July 4th!#ReformUK pic.twitter.com/YeOSE0HPiC
It has promised there would be no tax on earnings under £20,000 a year.
Reform has also said it would abolish the Government’s net zero targets and “stand up for British culture, identity and values”.
