Reform UK is expected to win 13 seats
Leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, is on course to become an MP in Clacton, according to the exit polls.
It is the eighth attempt of the Brexit campaigner to become an MP, having failed on each previous attempt.
But taking over as the leader of Reform in June seems to have done the job and got him a seat in Parliament.
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If Farage does win his seat in the seaside town of Clacton, in the county of Essex, it would be no small victory.
The Tories had stronghold in Clacton since 2017, after winning the seat from Ukip.
His party is expected to win 13 seats in the General Election – after campaigning on right-wing policies like a freeze on ‘non-essential’ immigration and leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
It would be the first time Reform have managed to secure an MP at the ballot box, on their way to shake up British politics as Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is doing in France.
Farage’s electoral agent Peter Harris has said the leader is ‘up for the challenge’ of facing up to a Labour government.
Harris, a Reform UK councillor, said: ‘We were always hoping for multiple seats, 13 – I would like even more than that, really.
‘So I think we wait and see once all the votes are counted we’ll see how many we have actually got, but yeah, hugely exciting.
‘Obviously, I’m completely focused on Clacton and our candidate here, Farage, we are extremely confident that he is going to be one of those 13 seats that gets elected to Westminster.’
The populist party appears to have been eating into the Conservatives’ vote. With 13 elected representatives forecast, it is higher than predictions by most polls.
The party came second in Houghton and Sunderland South, beating the Tories into third place.
Candidate Sam Woods-Brass received 11,668 votes to Conservative candidate Chris Burnicle’s 5,514.
On Farage’s potential impact in Westminster, Harris said: ‘He stood alone in the European Parliament, and he got the changes that he wanted and as he said to the European Parliament that when he first got there, they laughed at him and then when we left he said “well, you’re not laughing now”.
‘So you know, I can see Nigel will be a huge voice not just for Clacton but a huge voice for so many people in this country that have felt abandoned and betrayed. So, yeah, I think Nigel is up for the challenge.’
The leader said he is playing the long game, with his sights set on the next scheduled election in five years’ time.
The 60-yar-old said: ‘This is our first significant step towards a much longer-term goal, which is aiming at 2029, but also is aiming at building a mass movement for common sense across the country.’
He had earlier declined to say what number of MPs they would classify as a win.
It had been said that Reform’s wide but thin support would not help their success in a first-past-the-post system and the leader has been vocal about the need for changes to the electoral system.
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