HISTORICAL FACTS: 2 - Caught on Camera

Local elections scorecard: How to judge a good - and disastrous - night for Labour, Reform and Tories

NEWS ANALYSIS: The Independent’s political editor David Maddox explains how we can judge whether each party has succeeded or failed in the elections on 1 May with help from renowned pollster Lord Hayward

The Independent UK · May 1, 2025

Local election results live: Farage hails ‘end of two-party politics’ as Starmer and Badenoch apologise

Reform takes control of 10 councils, snatches dramatic victory in Runcorn by-election and wins two mayoral contests

The Independent UK · May 1, 2025

Starmer and Badenoch clash as Labour and Tories brace for tough elections

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK hopes to take the Runcorn and Helsby seat in the Commons off Labour and scores of councillors off the Tories.

Evening Standard · Apr 30, 2025

Thursday’s elections will be ‘tough’, PM admits as campaigning enters final week

The upcoming Runcorn and Helsby by-election will run alongside local elections and it is expected to be a tight contest between Labour and Reform UK.

Evening Standard · Apr 28, 2025

Political parties enter final campaign push ahead of local elections

Voters will go to the polls in 23 council areas across England on Thursday May 1, and will choose a new MP in Runcorn and Helsby.

Evening Standard · Apr 27, 2025

Reform UK candidate backed means testing winter fuel payments despite Nigel Farage calling move ‘vindictive’

Sarah Pochin said winter fuel payments should go to those who need it and not those who don’t

The Independent UK · Apr 20, 2025

Conservatives should stand aside and let Reform win Runcorn by-election, says senior Tory MP

The Runcorn and Helsby by-election next month will see both Reform and the Conservatives attempt to overturn Labour’s 15,000 vote majority in the safe seat

The Independent UK · Apr 3, 2025

Runcorn by-election: Inside the town that will see Starmer’s first major test at the ballot box

IN FOCUS: Having spent the first nine months in power struggling to get a grip on the narrative, a by-election loss in such a safe Labour seat would be a disaster for the party, as Millie Cooke and Harriette Boucher explain

The Independent UK · Mar 30, 2025

Has Labour’s moral compass gone missing in Runcorn and Helsby?

Letters: John Burnell is disturbed by a petition launched by the party’s byelection candidate to close a hotel used for asylum seekers

The Guardian - UK · Mar 25, 2025

Reform UK selects Runcorn candidate to challenge Labour at by-election

Sarah Pochin, a former Conservative councillor and mayor for Cheshire East, will be the party’s candidate for the upcoming by-election.

Evening Standard · Mar 24, 2025