Greens win seat from Reform UK in Farage’s ‘flagship’ council after by-election sparked as a result of incumbent was jailed
The Green Party successfully won a council seat from Reform UK on Friday, in a by-election sparked after the incumbent was jailed for 12 months.
The hard-left party took the Cliftonville ward on Thanet council, previously branded Nigel Farage‘s ‘flagship’ council, with a swing of 17 points.
Zack Polanski’s party surged in the seat by 26.7 points, pipping Reform by just over five per cent.
The Tories came in third, while Labour slumped and nearly fell into single digits.
Mr Polanski’s party pushed hard for the win, organising an ’emergency rally’ on Wednesday on Margate seafront, with ‘hundreds and hundreds’ of supporters in attendance.
Following the victory, Mr Polanski mocked the Labour Party, after Dame Emily Thornberry launched the party’s by-election campaign by claiming ‘only Labour can beat Reform here.’
He added: ‘Greens making a habit of taking on Reform – and winning! Robert Jenrick came to visit – as did Emily Thornberry. And their vote share both dropped.
‘Huge congratulations to the entire Green Party team. People power wins the day once again!’
The Green Party’s Rob Yates (left) successfully won a council seat from Reform UK
Mr Yates (Pictured) said that the surprise Reform defeat shows that the Green party are now the ‘antidote’ to Nigel Farage
The winning candidate, Rob Yates, said that the surprise Reform defeat shows that the Green party are now the ‘antidote’ to Nigel Farage.
He added: ‘Twelve years ago Nigel Farage was parading down Cliftonville high street, and now we have turned it green.
‘There is a huge appetite here to live with a politics of hope, empathy and local action, rather than a politics of division.’
A Reform UK spokesman insisted they had run an ‘incredible, positive and professional campaign in the midst of challenging circumstances.’
However the party pinned their defeat on the Tories’, arguing they would have prevented the hard-left victory had their right-wing rivals not stood.
They added: ‘The overriding message from this result is, vote Conservative, get Green.’
The Green Party has surged in the latest polls, and speaking at his local election launch rally this week Mr Polanski promised to achieve a ‘record breaking result’ in the council votes.
