Nigel Farage has dealt Keir Starmer with another blow just moments after snatching the Runcorn and Helsby seat off Labour by six votes.
Speaking after the announcement, the Reform UK leader branded the prime minister a “coward” in a scathing attack.
Speaking on GB News, he was asked why the prime minister did not show his face in the constituency during the by-election campaign.
“He’s a coward. He doesn’t lead from the front”, he said.
The Reform UK leader has taken a swipe at Keir Starmer
GB NEWS / PA
“He obviously feared they might lose and therefore he didn’t come. I knocked on doors for eight hours today and I would have been in this hall with our candidate regardless of whether we won or lost.
“With Keir Starmer, who by the way is a perfectly decent human being, it’s caution, caution, caution. No one knows what he believes.”
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The knife-edge result came after a full recount was ordered when initial counting showed just four votes between the parties.
Reform UK candidate Sarah Pochin claimed the seat in what marks Sir Keir Starmer's first by-election defeat as Prime Minister.
The result represents a dramatic turnaround in a constituency Labour had previously held with a majority of 14,696 in the 2024 general election.
Acting returning officer Stephen Young had ordered the recount, stating: "Because of the close proximity of the parties, we have agreed to do a full recount of all the ballot papers."
Sarah Pochin won the seat in dramatic fashion
GB NEWS
The by-election was triggered when former Labour MP Mike Amesbury resigned after admitting to assaulting a constituent.
Amesbury had punched a 45-year-old in Frodsham in October 2024.
For this offence, he received a ten-week suspended sentence for two years.
His resignation necessitated the by-election in a seat that had been considered a Labour stronghold.
Keir Starmer did not visit the constituency to campaign, despite it being his first by-election since coming to power
PAThe dramatic loss comes as Reform UK continues to make gains in local contests across England.
The six-vote margin represents one of the narrowest by-election results in recent political history.
Labour responded to the defeat by acknowledging the challenges faced by governing parties in by-elections.
A party spokesperson said: "By-elections are always difficult for the party in government and the events which led to this one being called made it even harder."
They noted that voters remain "rightly furious with the state of the country after 14 years of failure" and "clearly expect the Government to move faster with the plan for change."
Despite the narrow loss, Labour pointed to the collapse of the Conservative vote as significant.
The spokesperson highlighted "encouraging signs" that their plan is working, citing reduced NHS waiting lists, lower inflation and interest rates, and rising wages.
The by-election took place alongside numerous other local contests across England.
More than 1,600 council seats were up for grabs in 23 local authorities.
These included counties such as Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Devon, Kent, Lancashire and Oxfordshire.
Voters were also selecting four regional mayors and two local mayors.
The Conservative Party had held a majority of council seats across the 23 authorities holding elections.
Most of these seats were last contested in 2021, when the Tories enjoyed greater popularity.
The party controlled 19 of the 23 local authorities where voters headed to the polls.
Conservative Party chair Kemi Badenoch had previously acknowledged that losses for her party were likely.
