Nigel Farage has talked up Reform UK's chances just hours before polls open for tomorrow's Runcorn & Helsby by-election.
The Reform UK leader, who has visited the Cheshire constituency three times during the campaign, is hoping to topple Labour's 16th safest seat in a hammer blow to Sir Keir Starmer.
Opinion polls suggest the contest is on a knife-edge, with as little as 400 votes separating Labour and Reform UK.
“I’m just going for gold,” Farage told Times Radio. “We are going out to win and we have got a chance of doing it.”
In an email, seen by GB News, Reform UK urged its members to come from far and wide to shore up the populist party's support in Runcorn & Helsby on polling day.
"To win, we need to get out the vote on polling day," the email reads. "To do this we are aiming to get 500 people active on the ground on May 1."
The plea added: "Winning will be a seismic political event, it will move us forwards like no other result will do and we need your help to make it happen."
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'Modify or leave!' Labour MPs demand Keir Starmer put 'quitting ECHR on table' to thwart Nigel Farage threat
Labour MPs have turned on Sir Keir Starmer's stance on the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), saying quitting the group should be "on the table".
It comes as tensions are rising within the party ranks, with backbenchers nervy about this week's local elections.
Nigel Farage's Reform UK is predicted to win between 400 and 450 council seats this week, while Labour is only expected to win around 280, representing little change from its abysmal performance in 2021.
One MP told The Telegraph Reform was "riding the crest of a wave", adding: "In my constituency, the number one issue is tackling immigration.
"People need to see the boats being halted and the numbers coming down, and the whole system functioning much more effectively.
Graham Stringer, the Labour MP for Blackley and Middleton South, said: "If the results are as bad as predicted on Thursday, the Labour Party mustn’t come out and say it’s a question of just communicating our policies better.
"Most of all, we need to take control of the borders. If that means renegotiating or changing our international obligations, then we need to do that. But we cannot continue to have open borders because of laws passed in the early 1950s."
When asked if leaving the ECHR should be an option, Stringer said: "Certainly. Either modifying or leaving it."
Sir Stephen Houghton, who runs Barnsley borough council, also criticised the Prime Minister, pointing at the only Labour-held council up for election, Doncaster.
"Reform comes along and says, 'well, the problem is migration', where the problem clearly isn’t migration," he told The Telegraph.
"Investment is needed in those places to bring them up to an economic standard and secondly, in the short term, we need to do things to help them with the cost of living, because these are deprived communities on low incomes and even if they are working, life is a struggle.
"The Government’s capital investment strategy cannot just focus on big cities."
Green Party peer Jenny Jones has slammed Sir Tony Blair as being "out of touch" on his stance on net zero, calling the former Prime Minister a "past relic."
Blair, who was Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007, said voters "feel they're being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know the impact on global emissions is minimal."
Jones wrote on social media: "Tony Blair is completely out of touch. @UKLabour should ignore him as a past relic. Net Zero is popular with people.
"Who can argue with warmer homes, better public transport and (potentially) much cheaper energy, when we unlink from gas."
Belfast rap group Kneecap have been branded "horrific" and "ignorant" after appearing to call for fans to "kill their local MP" in resurfaced concert footage.
Footage from a November 2023 gig has sparked widespread condemnation and an investigation by counter-terrorism police, as one member of the band appears to say: "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP."
Speaking to GB News, Talent Manager Jonathan Shalit claimed the alleged remarks made by the band will have a "frightening" influence on younger generations of fans.
As well as the local elections happening across the country, voters in Runcorn & Helsby are going to the polls in a by-election tomorrow.
GB News North West reporter Sophie Reaper went to Runcorn to hear what people had to say.
FULL LIST OF CANDIDATES STANDING IN RUNCORN & HELSBY
Environment secretary Steve Reed refused to say if he was backtracking on net zero with a swipe at Russian president Vladimir Putin.
When asked by GB News if Labour are backtracking on their net zero policies: "You have to be pragmatic with these things. You have to manage the transition.
"But I do not want our energy to be dependent on Vladimir Putin, I want to take back control of our own energy.
"This is a concern people have in the election we are facing, it gives us an opportunity to come forward and say we are doing this."
Kelvin MacKenzie has told GB News Reform UK can push Sir Keir Starmer to act on the migration surge.
The former editor of The Sun told GB News: "We should take more into account than just age, qualifications and police records, but look at what country they come from.
"There would be shouts from the usual suspects of discrimination. Absolutely right. We are shutting the door on those people who will be nothing but a cost for us in the years ahead."
Nigel Farage's Reform UK is heading into the 2025 Local Elections with a one-point lead over Kemi Badenoch's Tory, a new opinion poll has revealed.
The survey, conducted by More in Common, puts Reform UK on 26 per cent, with the Tories on 25 per cent and Labour languishing to as low as 18 per cent.
However, the pollster behind the research warned that voter disillusionment will be a key factor in the results of the local elections.
More In Common Executive Director UK, Luke Tryl, said: “The public mood going into these elections is one of deep disillusionment, voters are impatient for change but aren’t confident any party can deliver it. As results trickle in on Friday this polling suggests we will see that the fragmentation of the electorate in last year’s General Election has only accelerated since then.
“For many their vote on Thursday will be an expression of deep frustration with the status quo. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK look set to be the big winners of the night, leading in our polling, while the Conservatives on these numbers would lose scores of seats in elections being contested on normally solid turf – both to Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats.”
Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins MP says Labour need to 'get its act together' on food security.
Speaking to GB News this morning, she said: "What worries me is yet again Labour has shown its disdain for UK farming.
"This Government needs to get its act together. Food security is a critical part of our national security."
Donald Trump's Deputy Assistant has predicted how the US President would react to Chancellor Rachel Reeves's claim an EU trade deal is "arguably more important" than the US.
The Chancellor sparked criticism after travelling to Washington for talks aimed at securing a trade deal with America, but suggested that the UK is aiming for stronger ties with the European Union.
Sebastian Gorka shed light on the President's stance on securing a trade deal with the UK - and how he would react to those remarks made by Britain's Chancellor.
Former Tory Minister Kevin Foster has slammed the government over their "net zero" policy.
Speaking on GB News earlier today, he said: "Blair is the first major Labour figure starting to say what I think most of us know, which is net zero by 2050 is not going to happen.
"If you do try to do that, the people you most hit by this aren't the wealthiest."
Sir Ed DaveyGB NEWSNew figures have revealed charges were only bought in 4.5 per cent of all residential burglary offences recorded last year.
Out of the 172,544 residential burglary offences recorded last year, of these a suspect was only charged in 7,761 cases or 4.5 per cent of the total. That is down from 5.17 per cent of burglaries that led to a suspect being charged in 2023.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: "It is shocking that crimes like burglaries and shoplifting are being effectively decriminalised, leaving local communities to pay the price.
"Being burgled isn’t just about stolen possessions – it’s about the trauma of feeling unsafe in your own home, the place where you should feel most secure. Yet your chance of getting justice depends on your postcode, with far too many victims being let down while criminals get away scot free.
"Under the Conservatives, our police forces were hollowed out and neglected, and now Labour is continuing to let communities down by failing to give local policing the funding it desperately needs."
Shadow secretary of state for the environment Victoria Atkins has hit out at what she called the "Government obsession" with Net Zero.
Speaking on GB News this morning, Atkins said: "We all want to see a cleaner world, we all want to protect our countryside for future generations but we have to do it in a way that is possible and affordable.
"What we're worried about is the Current government's obsession with Net Zero and setting impossible targets...It risks wider environmental agenda that we all care about, we care about trees countryside, water and air quality."
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch
PA
Kemi Badenoch has hit out at Reform UK, saying that Nigel Farage's party "tells people what they want to hear."
When asked by the Telegraph if she understood why people were turning to Reform, she said; "It’s a protest party.
"It tells people what they want to hear: That everything is easy and they’re going to do this and that.“I heard last week this announcement about a minister for deportations.
"Some people might think 'oh, that’s good idea.' We already have a minister for deportations. So when you’re in a protest mood, people telling you what you want to hear might be enticing. But it’s not real."
Nigel Farage has pledged to cause a "Reform-quake" ahead of this week's local elections, as he slammed Labour's landslide victory last year as a "loveless victory."
He said: "A Reform-quake? That’s what they’re calling it. I don’t know. What I do know is the advances we’ve made since the general election have been extraordinary.
"The Labour victory last summer was a loveless victory. I think you’re probably going to see our strongest results in areas where Labour won a lot of seats in the general election.
"I’m talking about the Derbyshires, the Nottinghamshires and in particular about County Durham, where we’re doing very, very well indeed. And, who knows? There’s also a by-election taking place in Labour’s 16th safest seat of Runcorn and Helsby. So, yeah, I think Labour are really scared."
