Reform must seize this opportunity to prove their worth

REFORM UK's recent successes in local council elections, mayoral elections and a by-election are nothing short of spectacular. But as a new chapter in the insurgent party's history begins, so does the huge challenge to get to grips with the financial and logistical basket case that is local government in England.

- Duncan Barkes

Nigel Farage's party now has control of these councils: Kent, Derbyshire, Doncaster, Durham, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, North Northamptonshire, West Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire.

In Cornwall, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire it is now the largest party but falls short of an overall majority.

The geographic spread is far and wide, with the Tories being the biggest casualty of this latest bout of electoral sucker punches from Reform UK.

A gain of 677 council seats for a relatively new political party is no mean feat. The by-election victory in Runcorn and Helsby, where Reform gained their fifth MP, also shows that other voters are prepared to give the party a punt.

Despite winning the ballot with a majority of six votes, this was very much a signal that those in the north-west are not happy with Sir Keir Starmer's Government. It is supposed to be a safe Labour seat.

Roll into this the fact that former Tory MP Dame Andrea Jenkyns is now Reform's Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire and ex-boxer Luke Campbell became the party's Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, and you have quite a formidable fighting force at a local level.