While the votes in England’s local elections were still being counted on Friday, Nigel Farage’s Reform U.K. party emerged as the biggest winner of the first major polls since Labour swept into government last summer.
Voters have been selecting councilors for about 1,600 municipal seats in 23 areas, as well as six regional mayors.
Here are four takeaways from a night that saw Britain’s two major political parties suffer significant losses.
Reform U.K. is a serious force in British politics.
The right-wing populist party headed by Mr. Farage won a special election in Runcorn and Helsby, in northwestern England, giving it five lawmakers in Parliament. The party also won the mayoralty in Greater Lincolnshire, a new position, and is gaining council seats across the country.
The party was initially called the Brexit Party but rebranded itself after Britain formally withdrew from the European Union.
Results on Friday indicated that Reform’s efforts to shed its image as a single-issue party and appeal to a broader range of voters were bearing fruit. Brexit is now rarely discussed by its politicians, who have been focusing on a hard line on immigration.
