How one council seat is a warning sign for Labour

REFORM UK claimed its first electoral success on Tyneside on Wednesday night.

- Local Democracy Reporter DANIEL HOLLAND

Its win in a by-election in the North Tyneside ward of Killingworth was labelled the "first of many" by victor Brian Smith, a reflection of the growing confidence among Nigel Farage's party in the North East.

With fellow Reform candidate John Falkenstein unable to embarrass Labour's recently-elected North Tyneside mayor Karen Clark in his unsuccessful bid to win her old Longbenton and Benton ward seat, she dismissed the party as not being a "serious threat".

But the fact that Reform swept into power at Durham County Council just a couple of months ago, as well as becoming the second largest party in Northumberland, suggests that the region's Labour-dominated political establishment should be taking them very seriously indeed.