It was a trio of vacant seats for the second week in a row, with Labour defending two and Reform defending yet another seat they only won in May. It was an astonishing night for the latter, who not only managed to easily hold in County Durham, but took the two other seats from Labour.
In County Durham, Reform stormed to its first successful defence with more than twice the votes of their nearest challenger. While Labour's vote share was stable in that election, presenting a marginal increase, it plummeted in its two defences. In Staffordshire, Reform built on its previous result and surged past Labour to again receive more than twice the votes.
In the red wall of south Wales, Reform came from nowhere to push the Labour defender into third place. Labour suffered a catastrophic fall in vote share of almost 40 per cent. Recent results in the red wall here are indicative of a major shift ahead of next year's all important Senedd elections. Current polling suggests that Labour's dominance is under serious threat from Reform, but Labour may cling to power as part of a formal coalition with their left-wing comrades in Plaid. However, if the red wall crumbles, Reform will likely emerge as the largest party and seek a coalition of their own...
Hednesford Green Heath, Cannock Chase District Council
Ref: 525 (51.5%) +31.8%
Lab: 230 (22.6%) -18.6%
Con: 126 (12.4%) -13.1%
Grn: 101 (9.9%) -0.3%
Ind: 31 (3.0%) New
UKIP: 5 (0.5%) New
TUS: 1 (0.1%) New
Ref GAIN from Lab
Llangennech, Carmarthenshire County Council
Ref: 694 (43.1%) New
Pld: 489 (30.4%) -7.2%
Lab: 380 (23.6%) -38.8%
LDm: 26 (1.6%) New
Con: 14 (0.9%) New
Gld: 6 (0.4%) New
Ref GAIN from Lab
Easington & Shotton, Durham County Council
Ref: 1,208 (46.7%) -3.5%
Lab: 523 (20.2%) +0.8%
Ind: 520 (20.1%) -1.6%
Ind: 179 (6.9%) New
Grn: 60 (2.3%) New
Con: 47 (1.8%) -2.6%
LDm: 27 (1.0%) -3.2%
Ind: 23 (0.9%) New
Ref HOLD
Abbreviations
Ref = Reform UK
Lab = Labour
Con = Conservative
Grn = Green
LDm = Liberal Democrat
UKIP = United Kingdom Independence Party
TUS = Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Pld = Plaid Cymru
Gld = Gwlad
Ind = Independents
There must be some very worried pople at Labour and tory head office.
ReplyDelete