Nigel Farage-led party storm to victory in Merseyside Labour heartland
19:37, 08 May 2026Updated 22:52, 08 May 2026
Reform UK celebrate their wins in St Helens (Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Reform UK has won its first council in Merseyside as Nigel Farage’s party stormed to victory in St Helens, where the ruling Labour group has effectively been wiped out. It was widely predicted that Labour would lose control of the council it has held since 2010, but the question being asked was whether Nigel Farage’s insurgent party could seize overall control of their first local authority in the Labour heartlands of Merseyside.
In the end they did so with a thunderbolt, winning a stunning 34 of the 46 seats available in the all out elections, where every single council seat was up for grabs. In a remarkable and humbling result, the Labour council that has run this town continually since 2010 was effectively wiped out, losing all but two seats.
This is because even when Reform didn’t defeat Labour, they lost out to the Lib Dems or independent candidates, the latter picking up an impressive six seats. The voters were speaking loudly and clearly and it was that they wanted rid of the Labour Party.
It was a contest that Reform dominated from the start, gaining seats from Labour in places like Sutton, Thatto Heath, Windle and West Park, taking all the seats available in each area as they galloped towards a comfortable majority.
Things got even worse for the ruling Labour group when council leader Anthony Burns lost his Blackbrook seat to Reform. The party’s late couple of wins in Newton-le-Willows were scant consolation on a devastating day for the party.
Labour’s Anthony Burns(centre),Leader of St Helens Council loses his seat.(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
The dominant result in St Helens saw Reform leader Nigel Farage arrive in the town to celebrate – on a day where his insurgent party have picked up hundreds of seats at the expense of Labour and the Tories.
Speaking from the Dam Bar and Grill in the town as seats were still being declared, Mr Farage told reporters: “We’re in St Helens and I desperately wanted to be in the Red Wall this afternoon after what has been a very dramatic series of results last night and through today.
“We have absolutely torn the most massive, historic chunk out of the Labour vote in the North of England.
“I look at the North West, at places like Thameside and elsewhere and we are winning a remarkable number of seats. Here in St Helens, the signs are looking good. So I’m in the right place.”
Anthony Burns, the Labour group leader who lost his own seat to Reform in Blackbrook ward, said it had been “hard to take” for his party. His group was out performed by independents in Newton-Le-Willows and Rainhill who both scored three victories alongside the Liberal Democrats.
Speaking to the ECHO, Mr Burns said: “It’s a tough one to take to be honest, we’ve got to learn from it as a party. There was a lot of love for the stuff we were doing locally but overriding that was the national picture, Reform, who have swept to massive victories here today led a campaign of get Starmer out, so that’s what we’ve been up against.”
Reflecting on his own defeat, an emotional Mr Burns said he and Labour “would be back.” He added: “Obviously gutted, really disappointed, I’ve been lucky enough to be elected to serve the people of St Helens for the last 16 years and it’s been an absolute privilege but you’ve seen what’s happened all across the country and it’s really painful.
“It’s not for me to decide the future of the Prime Minister but the level of seats we’ve lost, people vote in elections to send a message and they’ve done that. We’ve got to listen to the people on that.
“We’re a great town and people are at the heart of our borough, we’ve got a new party in town and they’ve got to make sure they hold their feet to the fire. Across the country they’ve got no experience of running councils and it’s not easy, it’s a complex industry.
“I’d say to the people, look at what they’re doing, scrutinise their decisions and make sure you keep an eye on it.”
The Green Party, despite making waves nationally, failed to convert that performance in St Helens and lost their seat in Haydock, meaning they were wiped out completely. A sole Conservative, Linda Mussell, held on for her party in Rainford.
Speaking after his win in the final declaration, new Cllr Woodward, said Reform had almost taken it all. He said: “We’re very happy, it’s a very historic moment, I don’t know if a swing like this has happened in Merseyside or the North West of England before.
“We saw it coming because we’ve done so much campaigning and activism on the ground, we saw where our support was coming from because we know how people are feeling across the borough and national sentiment as well.”
Cllr Woodward said no decision had been made on a group leader as yet for the party who will take the reins officially from Monday.
He added: “A lot of the stories of the inner town wards were about deprivation, being forgotten about, lack of industry and things like that. Cleanliness and fly-tipping across town has been a big issue too and we stand to try and change that, use fresh ideas and get our town back.”
On the issue of now becoming a governing party, Cllr Woodward said lessons had been learned from Reform’s stints elsewhere, including the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He said: “I think there’ll be a bit of DOGE, yeah, we’re always interested in savings, financial prudence and being responsible.
“In terms of lessons learned, the party’s come a long way, we’re looking forward to being responsible, we don’t want to burn anything down, we don’t want to flip over all the tables, we want to be more surgical in how we tackle things.”