Reform UK has secured another by-election win in a double hammer blow to embattled Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Nigel Farage’s party secured a win in a Heanor & Loscoe Town Council election on Thursday.
Sean Hind won a total of 472 votes in the by-election to the Heanor East ward of the Derbyshire authority – more than the Labour candidate (255 votes) and Green rival (120 votes) combined and no other candidates standing.
The result marks the latest win for Reform UK, which secured five parliamentary seats in the July General Election.
The win in Derbyshire represents a second blow to Labour, with Reform also winning the Marton ward in a by-election to Blackpool Council.
Lee Anderson hailed a by-election win as part of a ‘political tsunami’ (Image: Getty)
In that election, the Reform UK candidate secured 38.8 percent of the vote, with Labour coming in second at 28 percent and the Tories in third at 21.3 per cent.
Lee Anderson, the Reform UK MP for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, praised the Blackpool result – which was triggered after the Labour councillor became the MP for Hyndburn – was a sign his party was making strides towards winning the next General Election, which is currently expected to take place in 2029.
The MP said: “A political tsunami is coming our way. Massive gain here from Labour – This is how the path to victory in 2029 starts.”
The results are a triumph for Nigel Farage – but a huge blow to Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
The Labour Party has only won four council seats in the 26 council by-elections since September 16, according to figures from election maps.
Over the same period the Conservatives, who suffered an historic parliamentary defeat in July, have won 10 and the Liberal Democrats 5.
The next local elections – excluding by-elections – are scheduled for May 2025 and may see Labour take further losses at a local level as council elections are often seen by dissatisfied voters as an opportunity to give the ruling party a bloody nose.
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Labour sparks exodus of UK wealth creators in economic nightmare for Rachel Reeves
Rachel Reeves’s non-dom crackdown is driving wealthy people out of the UK, a leading businessman has warned.
Rachel Reeves’s Budget is alarming Britain’s wealthy (Image: Getty)
David Sullivan, who co-owns West Ham United Football Club, said he personally knows people who have moved to Monaco and Dubai.
He added “a lot of rich people are leaving the country as a result of what they anticipate in the Budget”.
Non-doms residing in the UK are currently not required to pay local taxes on overseas earnings for up to 15 years.
The Labour leadership is alarming business leaders (Image: Getty)
But the non-dom status is set to be phased out from April 2025.
New arrivals to the UK will then face a four-year grace period before beginning to pay taxes. Non-doms already in the UK would have a two-year transition period.
Mr Sullivan said he is selling his London mansion £10 million less than its asking price.
He admitted: “I’m selling it at a loss now, but you have to be realistic.
“Interest rates are high, they’re coming down but not much,” Sullivan said. “I also think what the government is doing to the non-doms isn’t very nice, and a lot of rich people are leaving the country as a result of what they anticipate in the budget. Three or four of my friends already have gone to Monaco or Dubai.”
Under the proposed changes, nom-doms would also be made liable for inheritance tax 10 years after they leave the UK.
The crackdown, combined with fears of increases in capital gains and inheritance tax at the upcoming Budget, has been blamed for driving the super-rich out of Britain.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer denied that his messaging on the economy has put off investment in the country.
He told journalists: “Yes, we’ve got to take difficult decisions in the Budget in relation to the missing money from the last government really tough decisions, like for example, the winter fuel payment, to stabilise the economy.
“Because I’m absolutely convinced that only by stabilising the economy, can we attract the investment that we need in relation to your challenge.”
He added: “In relation to your challenge, as it were, that aren’t we putting off investment, quite the opposite.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves insisted the Government will prioritise and increase investment in major projects at this month’s Budget.
After weeks of hints about the chancellor changing her self-imposed borrowing rules to allow significantly more investment in major projects, Ms Reeves has given her strongest indication yet of a significant increase to levels of state investment.
Ms Reeves said the previous government had been “cutting back on investment at exactly the time we needed to be increasing investment in our economy”.
“I’m not going to make those mistakes,” she said.
The Government has pledged nearly £22 billion funding to develop projects to capture and store carbon emissions from energy, industry and hydrogen production.
It is hoped the funding for two “carbon capture clusters” in Merseyside and Teesside, promised over the next 25 years, will create and support thousands of jobs, draw in private investment and help the UK meet climate goals.
