Runcorn, a city in Cheshire, has not been probably the most politically attention-grabbing place in current reminiscence. In reality Runcorn and Helsby has been a protected Labour seat for many years. Then the MP Mike Amesbury resigned after punching a constituent, triggering a byelection. Now Reform UK are nipping at Labour’s heels within the battle for the ward.
Helen Pidd has been out within the city to seek out out what voters take into consideration the federal government and Nigel Farage. She spoke to voters who’re indignant at Reform’s ways of specializing in migration, however who additionally really feel let down by Labour. She visits Labour’s nearly empty electoral nerve centre and notices the optimism in Reform’s workplace. Even a passing Liberal candidate is struck by the effectivity of the Reform machine and the obvious enthusiasm for it. And he or she additionally heads to a lodge that has been housing asylum seekers to see the way it has turn into a flashpoint in native politics.
The Guardian’s political correspondent, Kiran Stacey, tells Helen how the byelection could present how a lot of a danger Reform could possibly be to Labour, and the way the mayoral and native elections may play for the Conservatives, the Lib Dems and the Inexperienced get together. What’s going to they inform us in regards to the state of politics within the UK as we speak?
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