Farage admits disappointment in Makerfield but Labour’s woes not over

In a video posted online this morning the Reform UK leader cautioned that his rival party had been “hoisted by their own petard” despite their election win.

He called Mr Burnham’s victory a “dramatic, emphatic win” and said that his vote share was something “nobody could quite see coming.”

Mr Farage, who had visited the seat a number of times during the by-election campaign, compared Mr Burnham to the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying that both had been “popular local Mayor[s].”

But he expressed disappointment in his own sides performance saying there was “no question about it” that he was annoyed the party had not done better.

“As for the Reform vote share, I thought we would get 18,000 votes but we got just shy of 16. So I am disappointed by that, no question about it,” he said.

Mr Farage took aim at Restore Britain, the rival force on the right founded by the former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe.

Mr Lowe’s party secured 7 per cent of the vote and had sent hundreds of campaigners to the seat.

“I would say directly to them: what do you want? We are the challenger party to the left in this country and I would urge you to think again.” he urged backers of Mr Lowe.

As for the Conservative Party, Mr Farage said they would “have their pockets of strength around the country”.

But he warned that “in the North of England, the Midlands, South Wales, the Conservative vote averages in by-election after by-election, at around about 2%.”

He declared that Reform was “still the big national party on the center right” and branded the electron “disappointing” adding “but we keep going.”