Nigel Farage’s Reform has this afternoon taken control of its first councils, just hours after dramatically beating Labour in a by-election for Runcorn and Helsby.The party has taken overall majority of Lincolnshire and Staffordshire county councils,

After a confusing few hours, it was confirmed that just four votes were separating the two parties, with a full recount announced - meaning every vote was counted again. Eventually it was confirmed that Reform candidate Sarah Pochin had defeated Labour's Karen Shore by just six votes.