Nigel Farage accuses Greens of 'sectarian cheating' and lays down gauntlet to PM

"Matt Goodwin was a great candidate for us. Roll on the elections on May 7th," Mr Farage wrote.

He went further, predicting the spring polls would signal the end for both the Prime Minister and the Conservative Party. "It will be goodbye Starmer and goodbye to the Tory party," he declared.

The by-election took place amid reports of unprecedented levels of illegal family voting across the Greater Manchester constituency, allegations that have intensified the political fallout from the result.

The Green Party said Mr Farage’s claims of "sectarian voting and cheating" were an attempt to undermine a democratic result.

A party spokesman said: "This is an attempt to undermine the democratic result and is straight out of the Trump playbook. We’ve just won a historic by-election by a comfortable margin.

"We’ve shown the country that Greens can beat Reform, despite their big business donations."

Reform UK's chairman Dr David Bull said the party accepts the result of the by-election, despite Mr Farage's comments.

When asked if the reports of "unprecedented levels of illegal family voting" across the constituency impacted the result, Dr Bull told the BBC: "If I’m being candid, probably not."

Asked if Reform UK would challenge the legitimacy of the election result, he replied: "No. And I think it’s really important that we stand back and look at all of this with cool, clear heads.

"We’ve all been up all night, and so any rash decision would be a bad decision, in my humble opinion."

Mr Goodwin pledged to stand at the next general election, writing: "We have only one general election left to save Britain. Vote Reform every chance you get. I will continue the fight. I will always fight for you."

The Greens faced accusations of engaging in sectarian politics during the campaign after distributing material in Urdu and Bengali urging voters to "punish" Labour over its stance on Gaza.

One campaign video featured Sir Keir Starmer shaking hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is unpopular in Pakistan, alongside footage of Foreign Secretary David Lammy meeting Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ms Spencer defended the approach, telling the BBC she was "really proud" of efforts to reach voters who had been let down by other politicians.

Labour MP Karl Turner offered a devastating assessment of his party's performance, telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme the result was "catastrophic" and "couldn't be any worse."

"Having the Greens in Manchester is the worst result we could have expected or we wanted, frankly," Mr Turner, the MP for Kingston upon Hull East, said.

He attributed the collapse to unpopular policies on Gaza and Palestine, as well as the decision to block Andy Burnham from standing as the Labour candidate.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski struck a triumphant tone, declaring there were now "no no-go areas" for his party anywhere in England and Wales.

Speaking on the same programme, Mr Polanski said voters wanted "an alternative to this failing Labour Government" while rejecting "the divisive and extreme politics of Reform."

He predicted that a similar swing at the next general election would produce "a tidal wave of new Green MPs."