Nigel Farage declared he is on course for Downing Street after Reform UK emerged yesterday as the clear winners of the local elections.
His party stormed to victory across swathes of Conservative and Labour heartlands, winning more than 1,000 council seats and taking control of multiple authorities.
The party surged in England, Scotland and Wales, pushing Labour to an unprecedented third place in Cardiff after nearly 30 years of continuous rule.
Mr Farage suggested he is now confident of a general election victory, declaring a ‘historic change in British politics’.
Speaking outside Havering town hall, London’s first ever Reform-controlled council, Mr Farage said: ‘There is no more Left-Right. It’s a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way.’
He compared his party’s advance to clearing the Grand National’s infamous fence Becher’s Brook. A jubilant Mr Farage forecast: ‘If we cleared Becher’s Brook and landed well, we go on to win the Grand National.’
Other senior Reform UK figures told the Daily Mail in more blunt terms that they are now confident of cruising to victory in 2029.
Robert Jenrick, the party’s treasury spokesman, said the day’s results ‘are about as good as we could possibly have hoped for’.
Reform leader Nigel Farage speaks to supporters at Chelmsford City Racecourse, Essex, following the 2026 local election results on Friday, May 8
‘It goes way beyond what Boris [Johnson] or anyone else managed to achieve,’ he added. ‘The Conservative Party is finished as a national party. It’s been reduced to a rump.’
He promised: ‘Reform is on course to enter Downing Street at the next general election.’
Asked if he agreed Mr Farage is now heading for No 10, Dr David Bull, the party’s chairman, added: ‘Yes, I do. Nigel said this would be the mid-terms – he’s right. We believe if we do well in these elections, we’ll go on to win the next general election. This is seismic.’
Among Reform’s top prizes were landmark Conservative councils, including Essex and Suffolk.
In Essex, a part of the world represented in Parliament by some of the Tories’ biggest beasts, including Kemi Badenoch, Reform UK took 53 seats. The Tories crashed from 37 seats to 13 after 25 years of majority rule.
Reform UK claimed that Mrs Badenoch would lose her Saffron Walden constituency were yesterday’s vote share replicated at a general election.
Numbers shared with the Mail suggested Reform took 31 per cent of the vote in Mrs Badenoch’s patch compared with the Tories’ 29 per cent.
They also claimed that Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, and Sir James Cleverly, the housing and local government spokesman, would have been defeated by the Reform wave.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch leaves Broadcasting House on May 3
A Reform source boasted: ‘This is a momentous day for the party, we haven’t just won in Essex – we have won a landslide in a Tory heartland. How can the Tories possibly be showing signs of renewal when Kemi and her shadow cabinet can’t even hold their seats? The Tories have become little more than a regional party.’
A Tory Party spokesman said they ‘completely reject’ Reform UK’s analysis.
Next door in Suffolk, Reform also routed the Conservatives, securing a majority of 12 and pushing the Tories into third place behind the Greens.
The party swept through Labour’s northern heartlands, picking up dozens of council seats in the North-West and North-East.
Labour lost Tameside council, which includes Angela Rayner’s constituency, as her party shed 16 councillors and Reform gained 18.
Wigan, represented by the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, saw Reform win 24 out of 25 seats.
And in Sunderland, which includes the constituency of the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, Reform took overall control of the council as it gained 46 seats and Labour imploded. The party fell short in Wales, however, coming second to Plaid Cymru while pushing Labour into third. Reform was expected to finish around ten seats behind the Left-wing Welsh nationalists in Cardiff, who are now expected to form the government.
Similarly in Scotland, Reform accepted disappointing results as they failed to breakthrough in any constituencies, relying on the ‘list’ seats allocated by proportional representation.
While Reform was jubilant about their wins, analysis by Rallings & Thrasher suggested the party’s overall national vote share was down on the 2025 local elections.
The polling firm said Reform’s national equivalent vote projection had fallen from 32 per cent to 27 per cent.
Polling expert Sir John Curtice said that while half of Labour’s losses were down to Reform, Mr Farage had been helped by the rise of the Green Party, who were taking sufficient Labour votes to allow Reform to win seats.
Reform’s cocktails have pop at opponents in local election results party
Nigel Farage’s liking for a pint may be well known but Reform had politically themed cocktails on offer for those hardy enough to make it through election night.
At a party in their Westminster headquarters to watch early council results come in, guests had a choice of drinks that took aim at their political opponents.
On offer was a Rachel Reeves [marga]’Rita, with the slogan ‘growth not included’, a Kemi Bounce Bellini – offering ‘short-lived sparkle’ and coming with ‘100 per cent less sustained momentum’ – plus a Nigel Negroni, said to ‘unmistakably strong’.
One source at the party said the Badenoch Bellini, a take on the classic Italian cocktail invented in Venice’s famous Harry’s Bar, was ‘particularly fruity’.
But they added: ‘It was pretty sparse. Those who were there got very drunk due to lack of turnout.’
Mr Farage has not been shy about his love of pubs and Reform proposed plans in February aimed at saving Britain’s struggling publicans from going out of business.
