Recent by-elections show just how fragmented British politics has becomepublished at 07:58 GMT
Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent
Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by six votes last year
This isn’t the two-party double act we are all used to, but something much more fragmented.
It’s worth remembering that this is the second by-election since the 2024 general election. Last May in Runcorn and Helsby, Labour were also beaten by a non-traditional insurgent force: in that case, Reform.
Yes, it is fairly typical for governing parties to get a kicking in by-elections. But taken together, these by-elections point to a new dynamic of surging political forces to the traditional parties’ left and right.
It’s worth remembering too the Caerphilly Senedd by-election in October where Labour were usurped by both Plaid Cymru and Reform.
Labour MPs have long digested the possibility that their main rival to the right come the next general election might be Reform UK, not the Conservatives.
In response, they hoped to become the anti-Reform party, uniting a broad front of voters who do not want Nigel Farage to become prime minister, even if many of those voters do not much like Keir Starmer and are voting tactically.
But what if some of those voters come to see the Greens, instead, as their best hope of stopping Reform? After all, that’s the decision voters here in Gorton and Denton made.
