Local elections 2024: Lee Anderson swipes that Rishi Sunak could 'drop £1m down every chimney' and still not win general election - as he claims Reform WILL get more MPs after coming only 100 votes behind the Tories in Blackpool South

Lee Anderson hailed Reform progress today as he swiped that Rishi Sunak could 'drop £1million down every chimney' and still not win the general election. 

The insurgents' sole MP, who was previously a Tory deputy chair, levelled the jibe after a grim local elections night for the PM.

The Conservative candidate came in second in the Blackpool South by-election, just 117 votes ahead of Reform.

There was also significant support in council contests. In Sunderland - where Reform stood a full slate - it beat the Tories into third place in 16 of 25 seats.

The numbers will fuel fears about the right-wing vote being split at the general election. That could help gift Keir Starmer an even bigger majority than the headline poll standings suggest.

But in a round of interviews this morning Mr Anderson dismissed the idea, arguing that Mr Sunak has no prospect of winning anyway. 

'I think Rishi Sunak could fly over the UK tonight in a helicopter and drop a million pounds down every chimney and they would still vote him out come October,' he said. 

Anxious MPs are waiting to hear whether Nigel Farage could opt to return to the political front line for the election. 

Mr Anderson told the BBC: 'It was a very, very poor night for the Conservative Party.

'We got nearly 17 per cent of the vote share in Blackpool, which I think is tremendous.'

Challenged by Radio 4 presenter Nick Robinson that Reform had 'clearly' damaged the Conservatives, Mr Anderson hit back that the party not standing candidates would be 'music to your ears and the Gary Linekers of the BBC'.

'Our trajectory is going up and up and up, and the Tories are going down and down and down,' he said. 

'Come the general election this party is going to win seats. A vote for Reform will be a vote for Reform.'

Asked about Mr Farage's future, Mr Anderson said 'lots of people wouldn't run for Parliament'. 

'Nigel has not ruled it out... It's up to him whether he wants to be a member of Parliament.'  

Labour's Chris Webb secured a massive 26 per cent swing in Blackpool South to become the newest MP in the Commons.

It is the seventh parliamentary seat the Tories have lost in a by-election since Mr Sunak became PM in October 2022, six of which have now been won by Labour - underlining that Sir Keir looks to be on track for Downing Street.

As English councils started to declare, Labour also claimed a 'truly historic result' to take Rushmoor - the home of the British Army - from the Tories and end nearly a quarter-of-a century of Conservative control.

Tory David Jones scraped second in Blackpool South with 3,218 votes, just 117 ahead of Reform UK's Mark Butcher. 

The Reform Party had a full or near-full slate of candidates in only a handful of councils holding elections this year and Sunderland was one of a few places where it fought every seat.

While the party did not win any of them, it did beat the Conservatives into third place in 16 of the 25 seats up for grabs while Labour made a net gain of six to increase its comfortable majority.

Elections expert Professor Sir John Curtice said: 'The only thing that's stopped this result from being basically an unmitigated disaster for the Conservatives was the fact they just narrowly squeaked ahead of Reform.' 

Reform UK candidate Mark Butcher said: 'It's fantastic to see so much support and it's obvious that the people really have something to say here.

'We have done more than give the Conservatives a bloody nose, I think we have made a massive statement that nobody can doubt at all.

'I think the message is clear that we have got common sense policies for common sense people and I think people really want change, that's obvious.'

Reform UK party leader Richard Tice, who attended the count at Blackpool Sports Centre, said: 'Here we have had a brilliant local candidate, very well-known in the area.

'So while we have not had the historic data that the main parties have had and the ground game, we have made up in other ways.

'I think also because we just tell it how is. Our common sense policies, whether it's making work pay, lifting income tax thresholds to £20,000 to get people back in work.

'Whether it's the ambition to get to zero waiting lists on health care in just two years, whether it's freezing immigration, stopping the boats and actually stopping this mad gender ideology – people just appreciate the courage with which we just tell it how it is.

'The country is in a terrible state. The country needs reform. Britain needs reform and that's what we offer.'