Analysis Kiran Stacey

On Thursday the two main parties lost votes left, right and centre

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In May 2014 Nigel Farage stood in front of the television cameras and declared that his party's victory in the European elections was "about the most extraordinary result that has been seen in British politics for 100 years".

A year later, the Tories won an unexpected majority at the general election, restricting Ukip to just a single seat, with Farage failing in his attempt to win South Thanet.

The issue for Keir Starmer, after a bruising set of local, mayoral and parliamentary elections, is whether he can pull off what David Cameron achieved 10 years ago and burst Farage's bubble in time for a general election.

"The big question going into these elections was whether Reform could turn the enthusiasm of their supporters into actual votes," said Luke Tryl, UK head of More in Common. "The results suggest they have managed that."

By yesterday afternoon, Reform had won the Runcorn and Helsby byelection, overturning a Labour majority of more than 14,000, as well as the Greater Lincolnshire mayoralty, seven councils and hundreds of council seats.