Sir Keir Starmer conceded Labour’s loss by just six votes to Reform UK in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election was “disappointing” and insisted he was determined to go “further and faster” in delivering change.
In a message to voters, the Prime Minister said his party “get it” as new MP Sarah Pochin took the seat by a historically slim margin on Friday.
The parliamentary result came as Reform also made gains against both Labour and the Conservatives across England in local votes, with Nigel Farage claiming a “big moment” was taking place in UK politics.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to Bedfordshire on Friday, Sir Keir said: “What I want to say is, my response is we get it.
“We were elected in last year to bring about change.”
He said that his party has “started that work”, such as bringing in measures to cut NHS waiting lists, adding: “I am determined that we will go further and faster on the change that people want to see.”
The Runcorn and Helsby vote ran alongside local elections across England, having been triggered when former Labour MP Mike Amesbury quit after admitting punching a constituent.
Amesbury won 53% of the vote at the general election – and the defeat, along with Reform gains in other Labour heartlands, will cause unease in Downing Street.
Mr Farage said: “For the movement, for the party, it’s a very, very big moment indeed, absolutely, no question, and it’s happening right across England.”
He said it was a sign that the Prime Minister had “alienated so much of his traditional base, it’s just extraordinary”.
Reform’s victory by just six votes set a new record for the smallest majority at a parliamentary by-election since the end of the Second World War.
Labour said by-elections are “always difficult for the party in government”, and the events surrounding the Runcorn and Helsby vote made it “even harder”.
Party chairwoman Ellie Reeves acknowledged voters were “impatient”, but insisted “change takes time”.
She suggested Reform would face greater scrutiny after its electoral gains.
“We’ve had to stabilise the economy, but we’re starting that work. We’ve got our Plan for Change, we’re beginning to see the results of this, but we know we need to go further and faster,” she told Times Radio
However, Doncaster’s Labour mayor Ros Jones – who was re-elected with a majority of 698 after a battle with Reform – hit out at the Prime Minister’s administration.
She criticised decisions to means-test the winter fuel allowance, hike employers’ national insurance contributions and squeeze welfare.
Ms Jones told the BBC: “I think the results here tonight will demonstrate that they need to be listening to the man, woman and businesses on the street, and actually deliver for the people, with the people.”
In her speech after winning Runcorn, Ms Pochin, a former Conservative councillor, said voters had made clear “enough is enough”.
“Enough Tory failure, enough Labour lies,” she said.
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 a speech after winning the race in Greater Lincolnshire, during which her rivals walked offstage, Dame Andrea Jenkyns said there would be “an end to soft-touch Britain” after Reform UK’s gains in the polls.
“The fight back to save the heart and soul of our great country has now begun,” she said.
She claimed the campaign “was also filled with irony as one of the candidates stated I was parachuted in, she said in her South African accent”.
Former Tory Dame Andrea, who defected to Reform after losing her parliamentary seat in last year’s general election, also appeared to suggest that migrants crossing the Channel should be housed in tents rather than hotels.
“Tents are good enough for France, they should be good enough for here in Britain,” the new mayor said.
Asked later whether she thought those remarks indicated a divisive way of conducting politics, she said: “I think it’s what the silent majority think.”
Pressed on whether she believed asylum seekers should be put in tents, she said “genuine asylum seekers like Ukraine et cetera” were “a different matter”.
Asked whether she thought people with certain accents could not be from Lincolnshire, she said: “I think actually I’m not going to answer any more of your questions.
“I think that your questioning is quite divisive, you’re looking into things when it was a little play with words, it was a little joke because of the irony. Do you not understand irony?”
There was some good news for Labour as the party held the West of England mayoralty, with Helen Godwin beating Reform’s Arron Banks by 5,945 votes, with the Green Party’s Mary Page in third.
The party held the North Tyneside mayoralty, although with a majority of just 444 ahead of Reform in second place.
The Tories said the change Sir Keir delivered had been “roundly rejected” and Labour MPs will “rightfully question his leadership” after Reform’s by-election win.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Now we know why Keir Starmer never bothered to visit the area.”
The Tories, in Kemi Badenoch’s first electoral test as leader, were also suffering at the hands of Reform and could also be squeezed by the Liberal Democrats.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: “We are expecting to see big gains against the Conservatives in their former Middle England heartlands.”
The Green Party was also hoping for success in local contests, with co-leader Carla Denyer saying: “We are taking seats from both the Conservatives and Labour up and down the country as voters, understandably, move away from the tired old parties that have let us all down.”
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