Local elections in England: Aufwind for Farage: British two-party system is crumbling

The cameras are aimed at him. Nigel Farage once drove Brexit ahead – now his dream of becoming the next British Prime Minister is no longer considered to be air castle.

With his right -wing populist party Reform UK, he not only violated the conservative tories in the local elections in England. Prime Minister Keir Strandmer’s Labor Party also had to take a hard time.

Both major parties clearly lost. In addition to reform, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens were also able to grow. According to many commentators, the British two-party system is seriously faltering. Farage already explained it for “done”.

Reform wins a lead with only six votes

Not only several municipal representatives and regional mayors were elected, and a MP mandate for the British parliament was also re -awarded.

Last year, the Labor Social Democrats won the Runcorn and Helsby near Liverpool constituency with more than 14,000 votes. But now Farage’s candidate prevailed, if only very thinly, with six votes from Labor.

In the Greater Lincolnshire region, the reform candidate Andrea Jenkyns was clearly elected to the regional mayor in front of the conservatives. Reform gained hundreds of seats in municipal councils, in several right -wing populists will even set the tone in the future.

“It was a big night for us,” says Farage of the British news agency PA and, after all, declares his party to be the most important opposition party in the country.

Do Boris Johnson return as a savior of the Tories?

Above all, it is the conservative Tory party that has produced such famous heads of government such as War Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher, who has to tremble. Farage has set itself the goal of suppressing the time -honored party. It is now speculated whether ex-premier Boris Johnson could return as a savior of the Tories.

Under Johnson, the party had achieved a victory in the local elections in 2021, roughly the same districts in which elected.

For a long time, the conservative Farage were able to keep away, which competed in various party incarnations such as Ukip, the Brexit party and finally reform UK from the right. EU exit, boat refugees, the fight against “Wokes” ideas: Whatever Farage paying attention to, the Tories were soon on hand and his views adopted.

Reform UK is at the top in polls

But the gap was finally shrinking significantly. Similar to the AfD in Germany, the Farage Party has increased again in surveys after the recent parliamentary election. At 25 percent, she is even in front of the Labor government party (23 percent) and the Tories (21 percent). In addition, the current conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch is considered weak.

If there was now a parliamentary election, according to estimates, reform could become the largest faction in the British parliament. That would be a shock, because so far the British majority voting right has mostly reliably ensured that either the conservative or Labor received a clear government mandate. Although not officially, Great Britain was a two-party system.

Pact between Tories and Reform?

Nightmare The Tories is that this system could be permanently disturbed. Unlike Labor, the conservatives far to the right would not have an option for coalition partners out of reform. The conservatives therefore already discuss whether it would be better to close a pact with Farage before it is too late. So far, Badenoch excludes this and Farage has also rejected it.

Labor has “Paranoia” before reform

The next parliamentary election is only pending in 2029, and local election results apply only to a limited extent for national trends, but the fear of Farage is also great in the ruling Labor party.

LSE policy professor Sara Hobolt even speaks of a “paranoia”. The background to this is that many traditional Labor voters from the workers’ class, especially in the north of the country, had spoken out for the EU exit at the Brexit referendum. With them, Farages are likely to come across fertile soil.

The recent election results show that this concern is not unfounded. Prime Minister Keir Strander said after the slump in Runcorn and Helsby that he understood. But it does not seem to have found an effective remedy for the success of reform UK.