Nigel Farage has added another three wards to his local level turquoise tidal wave after Reform UK’s clean-sweep in by-elections held across England and Wales yesterday.
With Reform UK securing 677 seats in the 2025 Local Elections, subsequent defections and ballot box victories mean that Farage can now count on a nationwide army of 868.
Farage is already able to point to a significant bump in local by-election results since May 1.
Since the 2025 Local Elections, support for Reform held firm at 31 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have cemented second-place on 20 per cent, with Labour on 17 per cent and the Tories on just
However, last night’s victories could mean a lot more for Reform UK, with Farage looking to defend its gains from May 1 and land a hammer blow across true-blue England and the Red Wall.
Llangennech (Carmarthenshire)
The former coal mining town of Llangennech was long considered a staunchly Labour seat.
Located in Llanelli, a seat represented by a Labour MP in every election since 1922, locals opted for an alternative yesterday.
From a standing start, Reform UK added to its first victory on Carmarthenshire County Council by seeing off a challenge from Plaid Cymru by more than 12 per cent.
Meanwhile, Labour's support dropped by more than two-fifths to hit just 23.6 per cent and Plaid Cymru struggled to dent Reform's lead.
Llanelli is considered a major target for both Reform UK and Plaid Cymru.
The town, which is home to a large number of Welsh speakers, was won by Plaid in both 1999 and 2007.
However, following Llanelli's support for Brexit and outrage about migrants being housed at the iconic Stradey Park Hotel, Reform's witnessed an exponential surge from just 672 votes in 2021 to 11,247 in 2024.
Reform fell just 1,504 votes short of pulling off its first scalp in Wales in the 2024 General Election, making Llanelli Farage's top target ahead of next year's all-important poll.
If the result in Llangennech is anything to go by, Reform is performing significantly better than it had in Llanelli last summer.
Analysis by Britain Elects found Labour likely received 34.6 per cent of the vote in Llangennech in the 2024 General Election, putting Reform on 25.3 per cent and Plaid Cymru on 22.4 per cent.
Easington & Shotton (Durham)
Following Reform UK's 2025 Local Elections triumph, there have been signs of some fragility behind the turquoise tidal wave.
Due to a number of factors, four Reform councillors have so far forced by-elections since May 1.
However, up until yesterday, there was little evidence of voters sticking with Reform.
The Tories managed to pull off a shock victory in Newark West on July 3, adding Staffordshire's Eccleshall & Gnosall to its pile of rare scalps over Farage on July 17.
Reform also lost in County Durham to the Liberal Democrats - falling behind Labour to slump into third place in Benfieldside.
Despite registered net gains of 28 since the 2025 Local Elections, Reform was forced to wait for yesterday's result in Easington & Shotton to record its first successful defence.
Reform secured 47.8 per cent, dropping by a mere 2.5 points since May 1.
Meanwhile, Labour's support was given a modest 1.3 per cent boost, albeit falling well-short of the more than 50 per cent support once given to the party in the area.
County Durham has long been regarded as a Labour stronghold, even positioning itself further to the left with its annual Miners' Gala.
However, Reform's hammer blow in 2025 will likely be sending shivers down Starmer's spine, opening the door to a Boris Johnson-esque crumbling of the Red Wall.
Hednesford Green Heath (Cannock Chase)
Hednesford Green Heath is perhaps the most "Middle England" of all the wards contested in this week's council by-elections.
Since its inception in 1997, Cannock Chase has sided with the national winner in every single General Election - opting for Tony Blair all through the New Labour project before switching to the Tories all the way up to last summer.
However, the 2024 General Election result showed just how significant Reform UK's base support was in the Staffordshire seat.
Securing 26.9 per cent of the vote, Reform pushed ex-Tory chairwoman Amanda Milling close for second-place - with Labour's Josh Newbury only winning with a 3,125 vote majority.
And Hednesford Green Heath's by-election paints a picture of the shift in electoral fortunes for Britain's main parties since the last General Election.
Comparing yesterday's result to the last time the ward went up to grabs just weeks before the 2024 General Election, Reform UK's support surged by 31.8 per cent to hit 51.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, Labour's vote share dipped by 18.6 per cent to drop to just 22.6 per cent.
It was also a particularly poor showing for Kemi Badenoch's Tories, with Conservative support halving to just 12.4 per cent.