Though the defeated Reform candidate Matthew Goodwin and party leader Nigel Farage have taken ill-tempered swipes at the electoral process, in truth this was a remarkably strong showing by Reform in a seat that is not demographically favourable to the party. Goodwin’s 28.7% vote share is the sixth-best showing yet by either Ukip, the Brexit Party or Reform, and the 14.6% rise in the Reform vote is also in the top 10 byelection showings by any of these parties. Though the party was comfortably beaten by the Greens, this was an impressive performance by Reform in a seat with many graduates, students, young people and Muslims – all groups who tend to shun the party.
While by no means understating the Green's achievement, my #BGE2024 co-author, @robfordmancs.bsky.social, provides a really important reminder here (observer.co.uk/news/politic...) that, actually, Reform's performance shouldn't be dismissed either.
