Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Lee Anderson insists Reform will win seats at general election after local results

Mr Anderson insisted Reform taking third place in the Blackpool by-election was evidence that his party was on track to win seats at a general election

Zoe Grunewald
Friday 03 May 2024 11:33 BST
Comments
Reform Party deputy leader wildly suggests Britain should let migrants drown in Channel

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Former Tory deputy party chairman and now Reform UK MP Lee Anderson has insisted his party will win seats at a general election following success in the local elections on Thursday.

His new party narrowly lost out on second place during the Blackpool by-election by only 117 votes.

Mr Anderson - who defected in March - told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that his party’s vote is “going up and up and up” and “the Tory vote is going down and down and down”.

Lee Anderson has been touting Reform’s surge in the polls
Lee Anderson has been touting Reform’s surge in the polls (PA Wire)

He praised his party for getting nearly 17 per cent of the vote share in Blackpool” as “tremendous”, adding: “That’s above our polling nationally.”

Mr Anderson’s comments come as the party’s vote share in Blackpool marks a considerable narrowing of the lead between the Tories and the right-wing challenger party, which is likely to irk some Conservative MPs.

However, Reform is still underperforming when compared to similar tests by Ukip in previous parliaments - leading some commentators to suggest that its vote share says more about a collapse in Tory support than a particularly strong campaign from the party.

The former Labour councillor turned Tory MP turned Reform MP touted the successes of his new party, telling R4 presenter Nick Robinson: “Up and down the country we did well. In Sunderland, we beat the Tories in 16 out of 25 seats there and we did very, very well in the Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner elections.”

Some have suggested that a Nigel Farage candidacy could give the Reform party a seat during a general election
Some have suggested that a Nigel Farage candidacy could give the Reform party a seat during a general election (Getty Images)

Mr Anderson’s insistence that his party will win seats at a general election has been widely disputed by pollsters who have suggested that although Reform may nibble away at the Conservative voteshare, they are not yet making the kind of necessary gains to win an entire constituency.

Many have questioned whether a high profile candidacy - such as Nigel Farage - could propel the party to victory in at least one seat. Thus far, Mr Farage has remained coy about whether or not he would stand for Reform, but has told reporters he plans to give an update within the next few weeks.

Mr Robinson put it to Mr Anderson that it would be “bizarre” for Mr Farage not to run now “because you've just told us you're going to win seats”.

An audibly annoyed Mr Anderson responded: “Have you spoken to Nigel Farage, Nick?”, to which Mr Robinson responded: “No, I'm asking you about it”.

Mr Anderson replied: “Well I can think of lots of reasons why lots of people wouldn't run for parliament. Why don't you run for parliament?”

After some heated back and forth, Mr Anderson conceded that Mr Farage is still making up his mind: “Nigel has not ruled it out, Nick. He said he’s going to make his mind up in the very, very near future. It’s up to him whether or not he wants to be a member of parliament.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in