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The Guardian // Politics

The Guardian view on Reform election victories: a barometer of disillusionment | Editorial

Friday 2nd May 2025, 5:30PM

The charge that Labour promised change but is delivering more of the same speaks to anxious and angry voters across the political spectrumThere is no such thing as a “safe” parliamentary seat. Last July, Labour won Runcorn and Helsby with a majority of 14,696 and more than 50% of the vote. This week it was lost to Reform UK. Dramatic byelection swings are not new, and often overinterpreted. If Labour had won seven more votes, the outcome in Runcorn would have been different and the story, breathlessly narrated in Westminster, would have a different inflection. But on the same day, Reform took scores of council seats and comfortably won the newly created mayoralty of Greater Lincolnshire. The surge is real.Parties led by Mr Farage have done well before. Ukip and then the Brexit party made headlines with strong performances in local and European elections throughout the 2010s. But those parties were associated with a single demand – leaving the EU. Mr Farage was not bidding for nationwide power. Now he is.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please

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