Reform UK leader claims his party is now the ‘real opposition’ to Labour

Reform UK is emerging as the “real opposition” to Labour in large parts of the country, the party’s leader has claimed.

Despite failing to gain any councillors in local elections so far, Richard Tice was bullish about his party’s performance at Thursday’s polls and said it was “clear that the Tories are on the way down”.

Responding to the Reform UK candidate coming a close third to his Conservative counterpart in the South Blackpool by-election, Mr Tice told the BBC he was delighted his party had secured 17% of the vote.

He said: “What’s rapidly becoming clear… as more people hear about Reform is that we’re becoming the real opposition to the Labour Party in the North, in the Midlands, in Wales.

“We’re on the way up and it’s quite clear that the Tories are on the way down.”

Chris Webb won the Blackpool South seat from the Conservatives with the third largest swing from the Tories to Labour in a by-election since the Second World War.

Mr Webb secured 10,825 votes, a share of nearly 60%, while the Conservatives’ David Jones received 3,218 and Reform UK’s Mark Butcher 3,101.

Reform UK also pushed the Conservatives into third place in 16 town hall seats in Sunderland.

But Mr Tice said the current electoral system would make it difficult for his party to win a parliamentary seat at the next election.

He added: “It is patently unfair if you’re getting 17% of votes across the country but because of our system you can’t get any seats – that shows democracy isn’t working.

“That is why most Western nations have some form of proportional representation.

“The irony is the Tories are collapsing so fast, very soon they’ll be begging to have proportional representation to stop a complete annihilation of the Tory party.”

Lee Anderson is the only Reform UK MP following his defection from the Conservatives.

The former Tory deputy chairman made the move when the Tory whip was removed over his refusal to apologise for claiming “Islamists” had control of London mayor Sadiq Khan.

Mr Anderson rejected claims that his party was helping Labour by attracting Tory voters, pointing out that the combined Reform and Conservative total would not beat Labour in many areas.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Anderson said: “Come the general election this party is going to win seats, a vote for Reform is a vote for Reform.”

There has been speculation that Nigel Farage could return to frontline politics for the general election, having previously led Reform UK.

When asked if this would happen, Mr Tice said: “The more help Nigel feels able to give the better. He’s got a big decision to make… and of course the clock is ticking.”

Polling expert Sir John Curtice said Reform UK could have done greater damage to the Conservative vote had it fielded more candidates in the local elections.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Sir John said the Conservative vote fell “most heavily” in wards where Reform fielded a candidate.

“The only silver lining for Tory HQ was that Reform only contested one in six of the wards where there was an election on Thursday. A full slate would have been even more devastating,” he added.

Sir John said results so far suggest the Conservatives have continued to lose ground to Labour over the last 12 months, with support declining most in the Tory heartlands.

“The better the Conservatives did locally in 2021, that is, when most of the seats being contested on Thursday were last fought, the greater the fall in their support now,” he added.

With experts warning that the Conservatives could be on course to lose 500 council seats in what could be their worst showing in 40 years, Rishi Sunak has acknowledged a “disappointing” series of results.

But the Prime Minister insisted he was “focused completely on the job at hand” and that Labour had still not done enough to be on track to win the general election.