.png)
4 months ago
34
Lee Anderson became the first elected Reform MP today as he won in Ashfield.
Mr Anderson, who won the seat in 2019 as a Conservative, defected to Nigel Farage's outfit last year.
He gained notoriety and the nickname '30p Lee' after controversial remarks about the poor failing to budget for food properly.
He walked out on the Tories in March after refusing to apologise for controversial remarks about London mayor Sadiq Khan. The blunt-talking former coal miner started his political career as a Labour councillor, before defecting to the Conservatives.
Speaking after his victory, Mr Anderson told reporters: 'As I said a few weeks back, there's going to be a reckoning on election night - there has been a seismic reckoning in Ashfield and throughout the country.
'Reform are picking up seats tonight - make no bones about it.
'Next week, I'll be on the green benches with Nigel and a few others, and we're going to give them hell.'
But his historic win came as the party's hopes of winning more than a dozen seats looked set to be dashed.
The exit poll suggested that it could take 13 seats. But it lost heavily to Labour in two Barnsley seats and Hartlepool, which were among the 13 tipped to fall.
Nigel Farage remains on course to enter Parliament at the eighth attempt by winning in the Essex coastal seat of Clacton, just weeks after U-turning on a decision to sit out the vote.
Mr Anderson, who won the seat in 2019 as a Conservative, defected to Nigel Farage's outfit last year.
He gained notoriety and the nickname '30p Lee' after controversial remarks about the poor failing to budget for food properly.
Mr Farage celebrated with a glass of win as the exit poll was revealed
Among other seats it is expected to win is Great Yarmouth, the former seat of Brandon Lewis, a former Tory Northern Ireland Secretary.
The party has also seen an early boost as they polled ahead of the Conservatives in several seats in the north.
It will lead to major questions about Rishi Sunak's decision to call an early election.
And it will cause a huge battle for the soul of the Conservative Party in the weeks to come, with senior figures on the right open to some form of link-up.
Reform were second in Houghton and Sunderland South, pushing the Tories into third place.
Reform UK candidate Sam Woods-Brass received 11,668 votes to Conservative candidate Chris Burnicle's 5,514.
Labour's shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson won the constituency with 18,837 votes, achieving just over 47 per cent of the vote share and a majority of 7,169.
Reform has seen similar success on the second seat of the night, coming in second place in Blyth and Ashington with 10,857 votes, as Labour secured 20,030 votes and the Tories came third with 6,121 votes.
On a video posted to X, Mr Farage said: 'It's midnight, there are two results in from the north east of England that put Reform on 30 per cent of the vote, that is way more than any possible prediction or projection. It is almost unbelievable.
'And what does it mean? It means we're going to win seats, many many seats I think right now across the country.'
He added: 'This is going to be six million votes plus. This folks is huge.'
The party leader is on course to enter Parliament at the eighth attempt by winning in the Essex coastal seat of Clacton.
And in a sign of the collapse in support for the Tories on the right the official exit poll suggests as many as 12 other candidates could join him.
Dr David Bull, Reform's deputy leader, was asked on Sky News if he though Reform had split the Tory vote.
'I think the Conservatives have managed to split themselves in half,' he replied.
Andrea Leadsom has said the exit poll may indicate it was 'wrong not to go after Reform straight away'.
The Conservatives at times seemed afraid to even say Nigel Farage's name after e U-turned on a decision not to run, and later took hold of the party reins from ex-leader Richard Tice.
Ms Leadsom, the former Tory Cabinet minister said it was a 'devastating' night for her party.
She told BBC News: 'It's never easy when you are the prime minister to decide when to call a general election... it is a very, very difficult and very personal decision for any prime minister.'
She added: 'Maybe it was wrong not to go after Reform straight away but again, all of these are very carefully thought through as to what is the right approach and what we wanted to do was focus on what Labour would be doing with people's taxes.'
Labour is on course for a landslide, according to the exit poll projection, with 410 seats. The Conservatives are set for just 131 seats - the lowest number Tory MPs on record.
The exit poll also forecasts the Liberal Democrats on 61 seats and The Green Party on two.
In Scotland, the SNP are expected to secure jus 10 seats with Plaid Cymru in Wales on four.
Ahead of polling booths closing last night, Mr Farage took to X, formerly Twitter, to taunt the Tories over Reform's popularity under his leadership.
In one post directed at Rishi Sunak, he said: 'Time to hit the panic button.'
In another post, which featured a video of him visiting a boxing gym on the campaign trail, he said: 'Let's deliver a knockout blow to the political establishment today.'
Mr Farage also posted a series of single-sentence policies from Reform's manifesto designed to outflank the Tories on the Right, including raising the inheritance tax threshold to £2 million, scrapping stamp duty on properties worth up to £750,000 and quitting the European Convention on Human Rights.
Mr Farage had earlier declined to say what number of MPs they would classify as a win, but 13 elected representatives is higher than predictions by most polls.
It has been said that Reform's wide but thin support would not help their success in a first-past-the-post system and Mr Farage has been vocal about the need for changes to the electoral system.
Ballot boxes arrive to be counted at Clacton leisure centre after voting ended at 10am
Dr David Bull, Reform's deputy leader, was asked on Sky News if he though Reform had split the Tory vote. 'I think the Conservatives have managed to split themselves in half,' he replied.
It has been said that Reform's wide but thin support would not facilitate their success in a first-past-the-post system and Mr Farage has been vocal about the need for changes to the electoral system.
So, the early successes will bolster Reform's confidence as Mr Farage had previously said this election was only the 'tip of the iceberg' for the start-up party as they build to bigger success in 2029.
Mr Farage's electoral agent and Reform UK councillor Peter Harris has said their party leader is 'up for the challenge' of facing up to a Labour government and the exit poll prediction of 13 seats is 'hugely exciting'.
Mr Harris told the PA news agency: 'Anything's possible if enough good decent people want change, then they can vote for it, as Brexit has proved before.
'So, we were always hoping for multiple seats, 13 I'd like even more than that, really. So I think we wait and see once all the votes are counted we'll see how many we've actually got, but yeah, hugely exciting.
'Obviously, I'm completely focused on Clacton and our candidate here, Nigel Farage, we're extremely confident that he's going to be one of those 13 seats that gets elected to Westminster.'
On Mr Farage's potential impact in Westminster, Mr Harris said: 'He stood alone in the European Parliament, and he got the changes that he wanted and as he said to the European Parliament that when he first got there, they laughed at him and then when we left he said 'well, you're not laughing now'.
'So you know, I can see Nigel will be a huge voice not just for Clacton but a huge voice for so many people in this country that have felt abandoned and betrayed. So, yeah, I think Nigel is up for the challenge.'
English (US)