Labour won a council seat off Reform UK in Merseyside yesterday, while the Greens took a seat off the Conservatives in Dover.

Labour’s Steve Owen beat the Reform candidate to win Billinge and Seneley Green ward in St Helens. 

The by-election was triggered by Reform councillor Jennifer Gerrard stepping down for “personal reasons” just two months after she was elected on 7 May.

Reform took control of St Helens Borough Council in May, winning 33 out of 48 seats. However, within two months of the local elections, Gerrard and another councillor had already resigned.

The first to resign was Stephen Mousdell. He resigned within a week of being elected, after it emerged that he had appeared in adult films and on OnlyFans under a different alias. 

In Dover, the Greens’ Ingrid Dodd won the Guston, Kingsdown and St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe by-election yesterday. 

Online, Reform figures are complaining that Restore Britain allowed the Greens to win.

The by-election was a three-way fight on the Right, with the Conservatives, Restore Britain and Reform UK all standing candidates.

The breakdown of votes was as follows:

Green Party – 767

Reform UK: 733

Conservatives: 456

Labour Party: 389 

Restore Britain: 284

Independent: 35

George Madgwick, a Reform councillor in Portsmouth, bemoaned Reform’s failure to take the council seat, writing: “WOW.@RupertLowe10 and his Restore Group just stood against Reform UK in Dover and allowed – on the same day hundreds of migrants arrived on our shores – the GREENS to win the very local council seat where migrants land.

“Vote Restore – Get Greens. Shameful. Wake up Britain.”

Former Reform parliamentary candidate, Matt Goodwin, also complained about the result.

He said: “The Right vote in Dover last night was 55%. But the Greens won. Why? Because Restore and the Tories handed the seat to the Left. This is what they will do in countless seats at the next general election. Vote Restore get the Left.”

Reacting to their win in Dover, a Green Party spokesperson said: “We’re delighted that Ingrid Dodd, a local retired GP, has been elected to Dover district council. While the right fall over themselves to score political points and see who can say the nastiest thing that day, Greens are focused on the issues that matter – bringing down the cost of living, tackling the climate emergency and ending rip-off Britain.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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