Local elections 2025 results in full as Runcorn is won by just 6 votes
Results for the local elections 2025 – including the Runcorn and Helsby by-election – have been pouring out overnight. Keep up to date with results using our searchable widget
Sophie Huskisson Political Correspondent and Ashley Cowburn Political Correspondent
05:20, 02 May 2025Updated 08:57, 02 May 2025
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK dealt major blows to Labour and the Tories as the first local elections results trickled in overnight.
During a tense night of counts in local sports and community centres, the right-wing populist party delivered a major upset to Labour in a key by-election. The Runcorn and Helsby by-election result – one of the most hotly anticipated results of the night – was announced just after 6am, with Reform beating Labour by just six votes.
The lead up to the result saw dramatic scenes, with officials repeatedly checking ballot papers. A full recount was launched at around 4am after the first count was said to put Reform UK ahead of Labour by just four votes.
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But Reform’s candidate Sarah Pochin stole the Labour strong-hold by a mere six votes – becoming Reform UK’s fifth and first female MP in the Commons. Responding to the defeat, a Labour spokesman said: “By-elections are always difficult for the party in government and the events which led to this one being called made it even harder.
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“Voters are still rightly furious with the state of the country after 14 years of failure and clearly expect the Government to move faster with the Plan for Change While Labour has suffered an extremely narrow defeat, the shock is that the Conservative vote has collapsed. Moderate voters are clearly appalled by the talk of a Tory-Reform pact.”
But 22 of the 23 council elections being contested will only start counting at 9am, which means many of the results are still yet to come. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is bracing for a bloodbath with hundreds of Conservative councillors set to lose their seats to both Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats.READ MORE: Local elections 2025 LIVE: Runcorn by-election result expected imminently
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and Keir Starmer’s Labour are battling it out in the Runcorn by-election(Image: PA)
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During the night, Labour clung onto a series of mayoral seats. It won the mayoral contests in Doncaster, West of England and North Tyneside.
In Doncaster, Ros Jones kept hold of the seat, winning 23,805 votes. She won by fewer than 700 votes, with Reform UK’s Alexander Jones coming in second with 23,107.
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Labour also won the West of England Combined Authority mayoral race. The party’s candidate Helen Godwin won 51,197 votes. Reform UK’s candidate Arron Banks – who founded the Leave EU campaign and was formerly one of UKIP’s largest donors – came second with 45,252.
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Mr Starmer’s party also clung onto the North Tyneside mayoral seat, but its majority was reduced to just 444 votes. Labour’s Karen Clark won 30.2% of the vote, followed by Reform’s John Falkenstein’s 29.4%.
Away from the mayoral results, Reform UK has been making gains on Northumberland County Council. Elsewhere Mr Farage’s party has been making ground in Staffordshire. The council’s Tory leader was among those to lose their seat to Reform UK.
Overnight, Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake said the results are “very disappointing”. He said the Conservatives have some “fantastic” councillors and candidates around the country and said it is “a really sad day when they lose their seats”.
