Nigel Farage FINALLY becomes an MP after smashing Tories and Labour in Clacton - Reform wins in four constituencies

Ex-Tory MP Giles Watling trailed in second on 27.9 per cent, with Labour's Jovan Owusu-Nepaul receiving just 16.2 per cent of the vote.

Farage, who fell just 2,812 votes short of winning in Thanet South in 2015, pulled in marginally more support than ex-Ukip MP Douglas Carswell.

The 60-year-old initially opted not to stand in the 2024 General Election after claiming a six-week campaign made it all but impossible to enter Parliament.

However, a triumphant Farage used his victory speech to warn Labour about what could happen next.

After overturning a 24,702 Tory majority to win by 8,405, Farage said: "There is a massive gap on the centre-right of British politics and my job is to fill it."

Taking aim at Labour, the Reform UK leader warned: "What is interesting is, there's no enthusiasm for Labour, there's no enthusiasm for [Keir] Starmer whatsoever.

"In fact, about half of the vote is simply an anti-Conservative vote. We're coming for Labour, be in no doubt about that."

He added: "It's four weeks and three days since I decided to come out of retirement and throw my hat in the ring.

"I think what Reform UK has achieved, in those just few short weeks, is truly extraordinary.

"Given that we had no money, no branch structure, virtually no nothing across the country, we are going to come second in hundreds of constituencies.

"How many seats we are going to win? I don't know. But to have done this in such a short space of time says something very fundamental is happening."

Farage's victory was declared just hours after Lee Anderson was returned as the MP for Ashfield.

Ex-Brexit Party MEP Rupert Lowe, who previously stood for the Referendum Party in 1997 and Reform UK in a by-election earlier this year, also picked up Great Yarmouth.

Lowe received 35.3 per cent of the vote, just 3.5 per cent ahead of Labour's Keir Cozens.

The seat was held by ex-Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis before he stepped down ahead of Rishi Sunak's decision to hold an election.

Reform UK's former leader Richard Tice has also picked up Boston & Skegness from incumbent Tory Matt Warman.

Despite initially being projected to pick up 13 seats, recent results suggest Reform UK will struggle to get into double figures.

Reform UK is not expected to win any more seats but finished runner-up across much of leave-voting England and Wales.

The populist party leapfrogged the Tories in a number of seats, including Thurrock and Houghton & Sunderland South.

In all four seats picked up by the populist party, constituents voted by more than 70 per cent to leave the European Union in 2016.

Reform UK is expected to receive more votes than Ukip picked up in 2015 and leads the Liberal Democrats in the popular vote.

However, Sir Ed Davey looks poised to return 58 MPs after making significant inroads in the so-called Blue Wall.