Reform UK have won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by just six votes in a blow to Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership.
The narrow victory for new MP Sarah Pochin saw Nigel Farage’s party taking a constituency which Labour won with a majority of almost 14,700 at the general election less than 12 months ago.
Politics Live: Could Reform finally get a toehold of power?
The by-election in the Cheshire seat was called after the previous MP Mike Amesbury resigned following his conviction for punching a constituent.
Ms Pochin won with 12,645 votes, compared to the 12,639 votes secured by Labour candidate Karen Shore, making it the closest by-election result since records began in 1945.
Speaking after the result was declared, Mr Farage told Sky News’ chief political correspondent Jon Craig that “no one knows” what Sir Keir Starmer stands for.
He also blamed Labour’s loss on higher taxes and migration, saying a “sense of fairness bordering on resentment” was noticeable on the doorstep.
He added that the result shows that “if you vote Conservative, you get Labour”, insisting his party is now the opposition to the government.
The vote in Runcorn is Sir Keir Starmer’s first by-election test as prime minister.
A Labour spokesperson said by-elections are “always difficult for the party in government and the events which led to this one being called made it even harder”.
They said: “While Labour has suffered an extremely narrow defeat, the shock is that the Conservative vote has collapsed.
Nigel Farage with Reform’s Runcorn candidate Sarah Pochin
“Moderate voters are clearly appalled by the talk of a Tory-Reform pact.”
Conservative candidate Sean Houlston came in third with 2,341 votes.
The Tories called the result “a damning verdict on Keir Starmer’s leadership which has led to Labour losing a safe seat”.
A spokesperson said: “Just 10 months ago Labour won an enormous majority, including in this seat with 52% of the vote, but their policies have been a punch in the face for the people of Runcorn.
“Snatching Winter Fuel Payments from vulnerable pensioners, pushing farmers to the brink with their vindictive Family Farms Tax and hammering families with a £3500 jobs tax, families are being punished for their disastrous decisions in government. Now we know why Keir Starmer never bothered to visit the area.”
As well as the Runcorn by-election, voters on Thursday took part in contests to elect more than 1,600 councillors across 23 local authorities, along with four regional mayors and two local mayors.
In the first result of the night, Labour held on to the North Tyneside mayoralty by just 444 votes.
It then saw off Reform in the West of England and Doncaster to retain both mayoralties.
However Reform won the mayoralty in Greater Lincolnshire by a majority of 39,584.
Two other mayoralties up grabs are Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and Hull and East Yorkshire.
Lead politics presenter Sophy Ridge, political editor Beth Rigby, and data and economics editor Ed Conway will be live on Friday morning to report and explain the results.
Six mayors are being elected in England, with most of the mayoralties last contested in 2021.
These include four combined authority mayors , otherwise known as metro mayors, as well as two city mayors.
Two of the mayors will take up new positions in the Hull and East Yorkshire, and Greater Lincolnshire combined authorities. The other mayoralties were all last contested in 2021.
Metro mayors
• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
• Greater Lincolnshire (REFORM GAIN)
• Hull and East Yorkshire
• West of England (LABOUR HOLD)
City mayors
• Doncaster (LABOUR HOLD)
• North Tyneside (LABOUR HOLD)
All of these mayoralties will be elected under a first-past-the-post electoral system, which is also used for Westminster parliamentary elections.
See below for more detailed breakdowns of results for each race.
Metro mayors
There are four metro mayors being elected in combined authorities. These mayors are elected by voters from several different areas and counting will take place at local council level. Tables will be updated as each local area reports its result.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
First established in 2017, the combined authority covers six areas. These are Peterborough, Fenland, Huntingdonshire, East Cambridgeshire, South Cambridgeshire, and Cambridge local council areas.
Labour won the mayoralty from the Conservatives when it was last contested in 2021.
Greater Lincolnshire
Reform’s Andrea Jenkyns has won the race to be Greater Lincolnshire’s first mayor, with 104,133 votes to the Conservative candidate’s 64,585.
The combined authority covers nine areas. These are North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, Boston, Lincoln, East Lindsey, West Lindsey, North Kesteven, South Kesteven, and South Holland local council areas.
Hull and East Yorkshire
This is a new mayoralty, being elected for the first time in 2025.
The combined authority area covers both Hull City and East Riding of Yorkshire local council areas.
West of England
Labour have avoided losing the West of England mayoralty to Reform, but their margin has been cut in half to just under 6,000 votes.
Labour won the mayoralty from the Conservatives when it was last contested in 2021 by a margin of 12,019 votes.
The combined authority covers three areas: Bristol City, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset local council areas. The authority was established in 2017.
City mayors
There are two city mayors being elected, one for Doncaster and one for North Tyneside.
Labour’s Ros Jones, who has been the Mayor of Doncaster since 2013, has been re-elected, but came just 698 votes ahead of the Reform candidate.
Labour have managed to hold onto the mayoralty of North Tyneside with an even thinner majority of just 444 votes, with Reform coming in second place.
The US Treasury Department wants to block the Cambodia-based Huione Group from accessing the US banking system, accusing it of helping North Korea’s state-backed Lazarus Group to launder its crypto.
The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposed on May 1 to prohibit US financial institutions from opening or maintaining correspondent or payable-through accounts for or on behalf of the Huione Group.
Huione Group has established itself as the “marketplace of choice for malicious cyber actors” like the Lazarus Group, who have “stolen billions of dollars from everyday Americans,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a May 1 statement.
“Today’s proposed action will sever Huione Group’s access to correspondent banking, degrading these groups’ ability to launder their ill-gotten gains.”
Huione Group has set up a network of businesses, which includes payment service platform Huione Pay PLC, the crypto exchange Huione Crypto, and Haowang Guarantee, an online marketplace offering illicit goods and services.
Although the conglomerate doesn’t have correspondent accounts with US financial institutions, it has accounts with foreign firms with US correspondent accounts, FinCEN noted in its rulemaking submission.
The proposed rule is subject to a 30-day public comment period before it can take effect.
Huione expanded into sophisticated cybercrime network
FinCEN claimed that Huione Group has laundered at least $4 billion worth of illicit proceeds between August 2021 and January 2025, including more than $36 million from crypto pig butchering scams.
At least $37 million worth of the crypto laundered has been linked to North Korea’s “cyber heists,” the Treasury said.
Haowang Guarantee has made Huione Group a “one stop shop” for criminals to launder crypto obtained through illicit activities, and ultimately convert it to fiat currency, the Treasury said.
Related: North Korean crypto attacks rising in sophistication, actors — Paradigm
The conglomerate has also created a US dollar-pegged stablecoin, the US Dollar Huione (USDH), which FinCEN said cannot be frozen and helps to carry out money laundering activities.
The National Bank of Cambodia has stated that payment firms aren’t allowed to deal or trade digital assets in the country and had revoked the company’s local banking license in March.
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