𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Reform UK is on course for a landmark haul of seats in the 2026 local elections, with party chairman David Bull telling the BBC the party’s ascent had been “meteoric.”

He told the BBC that anything between 800 and 900 English seats would constitute a “great night,” with 1,000 representing “a measure of success.”

He insisted the vote — local in name only — should be read as “a referendum on the Labour Party.”

At the time of writing Sky News reported 11 seats for Reform, against 11 losses for Labour including in former bastions such as Chorley, and Runcorn and Helsby indicating the northern Red Wall was indeed falling to Nigel Farage’s party.

The losses are already mounting — a Labour insider conceded to the BBC that Tameside, a council the party has controlled without interruption since 1979, had fallen.

A Reform source declared to the Sun on Sunday: “The Red Wall is crumbling and turning Reform tonight.”

How are the Conservatives faring in the 2026 local elections?

On the Conservative benches, shadow transport secretary Richard Holden conceded “significant losses” were inevitable, without being drawn on specific numbers.

He struck a more optimistic note on Badenoch’s personal ratings, saying she was registering “positive” feedback from voters.

What are the Greens and Lib Dems saying about the results?

Green Party deputy leader Rachel Millward said the Greens represented “an alternative that’s hope based” for voters feeling “such dissatisfaction and anger with the status quo,” adding that the party wanted to “make a difference to ordinary people’s lives.”

Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney predicted a “really good set of results” for her party, arguing that voters were “getting really frustrated with the traditional two parties” — but dismissed both Reform and the Greens as “populist” and “quite extremist.”