Nigel Farage’s Reform party stuns with massive UK election result

Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform party has blown away expectations with a massive result in the UK elections.

Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform party has blown away expectations — with the exit poll showing it is on track to secure an unprecedented number of seats.

The former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader and key Brexit figure, who has campaigned on cutting immigration, is set to win far more seats than expected, early exit polls show.

Reform could win as many as 13 seats in the 650-member House of Commons, according to exit polling released at 10pm (7am AEST) as voting booths closed across the UK.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. Picture: Henry Nicholls/AFP

As results began to roll in Mr Farage addressed a crowd of supporters at his election party in Clacton-on-Sea, celebrating the forecast exit poll result as a “massive step”.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said.

“If that’s the result, that would be a massive first step for, I’m going to call it a movement. The political party is only a part of what we’re about. This is a movement to represent ordinary folk, the silent majority.”

In an video posted to social media, Mr Farage said Reform’s second-place result in the first two electorates called showed his party would win “many, many seats”.

Mr Farage said the results were ‘almost unbelievable’.

Mr Farage said Reform had won a higher share of the vote “than any possible prediction or projection – it’s almost unbelievable”.

Early forecasts also put Reform well on course to overtake the Lib Dems as the third force in British politics when it comes to votes cast.

The Reform boss had already predicted his party would secure millions of votes but only a handful of parliamentary seats, due to the first-past-the-post voting system which favours the two main parties.

And he has made it clear electoral reform will become central to his party’s post-election campaigning.

The Brexit champion is on the cusp of becoming the MP for Clacton, on the east coast of England, after seven failed attempts and nearly 30 years of campaigning.

Under his leadership, UKIP won 12.6 per cent of the vote in 2015 — but only one seat, in Clacton.

Who is Farage?

The controversial anti-immigration advocate and reality TV star had been expected to win anywhere as few as just two seats, in line with UKIP’s historical support.

Mr Farage had been most successful leader of the far-right party in the 2010s before his departure in 2016, which saw UKIP’s support and influence plummet.

Reform UK, founded in 2018 as the Brexit Party, was rebranded in 2021 and campaigned against Covid lockdowns.

The anti-immigration party is on track to beat expectations. Picture: Paul Ellis/AFP

Mr Farage rejoined Reform in June in a surprise late entry to the July 4 general election campaign, and is expected to finally enter UK parliament as the MP for Clacton, a seaside town that has seen better days in Essex, north east of London.

He has never before won a seat in parliament.

The British public can see through the desperate attacks by the media.

We need to stop dividing people up into categories and live together as one. pic.twitter.com/GErovPGvEh

— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) July 4, 2024

Mr Farage is already talking about how Reform intends to use this week’s election result as a springboard for more power.

“After Thursday, Reform UK can be the real opposition in parliament,” Mr Farage said earlier.

“We will hold Starmer to account over his plans to open Britain’s borders to even more immigration and betray Brexit by taking the knee to the EU.”

All indications are the Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, have been thrashed with King Charles III set to appoint Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer the new PM on Friday.

Labour is on track for landslide 410-seat win, easily above the 326 seats needed for an outright majority, with the Conservatives reduced to 131 seats, 61 for the Liberal Democrats and 10 for the Scottish National Party (SNP), exit polling suggests.

That would represent a gain of 206 seats for Labour and a loss of 241 for the Conservatives, with the Liberal Democrats picking up 53 seats and the SNP losing 38.

It would be a historic wipe-out for the Conservatives — the lowest number of seats won by the party in the modern political era, and well below the previous lowest result of 165 seats in 1997.

People across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland went to the polls on Thursday to pick their local member of parliament.

Votes are still being counted and the final results will emerge in coming hours.

Originally published as Nigel Farage’s Reform party stuns with massive UK election result