Election results show Reform threat to MPs

DOVER MP Mike Tapp could be unseated by Reform UK in the next election if the party's strong performance in this month's county council election is mirrored nationally, according to new analysis.

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Polling firm Electoral Calculus (EC) used results from the May 1 local elections to model outcomes for Westminster constituencies - and the projections suggest a seismic political shift in Kent.

Mr Tapp, who represents Dover and Deal and has been tipped for rapid promotion within his party, is among the high-profile MPs projected to lose their seats. Alongside him, Conservative Faversham and Mid Kent MP Helen Whately is also forecast to fall to the Reform wave.

Kent was typical of the catastrophic losses suffered by the Conservatives in the May Day elections. They were all but annihilated, going from more than 60 seats on Kent County Council in 2021 to just five. Reform swept all aside to take 57 seats out of 81.