Former Bunbury ward councillor Sarah Pochin has won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election for Reform UK by just SIX votes.
Ms Pochin, who was Conservative councillor and then Independent councillor on Cheshire East, was declared the winner earlier this morning after Labour ordered a recount.
It’s believed to be the closest by-election in British political history.
It means Ms Pochin and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have overturned Labour’s huge majority from the 2024 general election win in Runcorn.
Ms Pochin received 12,645 compared to Labour’s 12,639. Reform’s share rose by 21% and Labour’s dropped by 14%.
She said after the result: “Enough is enough. Enough Tory failure, enough Labour lies.”
The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Mike Amesbury, who received a suspended prison sentence for a street assault last year.
Ms Pochin said the party stood for “family, community and country,” and she had “dedicated her life” to upholding those values.
She was a councillor for the Cheshire East authority from 2015 until 2023, and was mayor of the council from 2021 to 2022.
She was expelled by the Conservatives in 2020 after a row over her nomination as mayor.
Ms Pochin has worked for companies in the energy and chemicals sector as well as the DIY industry, also spent 20 years as a magistrate.
Markh. So your view is that only your opinion is acceptable and anything else is wrong? Astonishing.
Reform are the subject of so much patronising and mostly unfounded criticism. The Conservatives (and I speak as a lifelong Tory) blew it spectacularly, Labour are just evil, the Greens are irrelevant and the LibDems are a joke.
Farage, in particular, attracts a lot of venom and spite, but every time I hear him speak, I think it sounds pretty close to what I’d like to happen. People seem to put words in his mouth and criticise their interpretation of what he said, rather than what he actually said.
Whether it’s crime, drugs, guns, knives, abuse, theft or fraud, our new arrivals are grossly overrepresented in crime figures, and whilst we’ll never reverse the influx of bad guys, I’d rather vote for someone who won’t welcome undesirable non-contributors with a five star benefits package.
That you like what Farage has to say does not make him right Jem. It makes both of you wrong (and one of you ill-informed and the other a self-serving manipulator)
What would be depressing is more of this dreadful Labour government persecuting the disabled, taxing firms out of existence, causing people to lose their jobs, locking people up for online comments while towns are overrun with criminals.
Predictable response to a fairly reasonable comment, from someone concerned by how Reform are becoming the prominent party.
Deeply depressing times.
Biscwitless, I think you’ll soon find yourself in the minority.
The lunatics have taken over the aslum.