Reform secures its first victory in North Tyneside

REFORM UK has achieved its first electoral victory in North Tyneside, winning a vacant seat in the Killingworth by-election.

- AUSTEN SHAKESPEARE

The newly elected Reform councillor believes he is "the first of many," ahead of next year's local elections.

The voters of Killingworth elected coun Brian Smith to represent them in the council chamber, following a tense by-election count only a month after Reform narrowly lost its mayoral bid in May.

Labour, still the dominating political force in North Tyneside, saw its candidate Bryan John Macdonald declared the councillor for Longbenton and Benton in a separate by-election shortly after Coun Smith's declaration.

Upon Coun Smith's declaration, North Tyneside's lone Reform councillor said: "As a very famous man once said, 'this is not the end, this is not the beginning of the end! This is the beginning for Reform in North Tyneside."