Friday, May 2, 2025

Welcome to this special Friday edition of the newsletter. I have tried to round up the best of the election analysis from The Independent, while keeping an eye on other political news.  

Nigel Farage is the big winner from yesterday's votes, with Reform taking control of several local councils and two mayoralties. So Archie Mitchell looks at what policies we can expect, from a "British Doge" in every authority to a war on working from home. 

We have a profile by David Maddox of Andrea Jenkyns, the new mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, who first arrived on the political stage as the MP who ended Ed Balls's Commons career in 2015. 

And we have a profile by Archie of Sarah Pochin, the new MP for Runcorn. 

On the national political implications, I argue that the elections were bad for Labour but worse for the Conservatives. Keir Starmer has the advantage of knowing that he will lead the government into the next general election, whereas Kemi Badenoch could find herself totally eclipsed by Farage as leader of the opposition. 

Written by John Rentoul

When was the last time a party led by Nigel Farage won a parliamentary by-election?

Answer at the bottom of today's email 

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Daily briefing

Sean O'Grady: the Brexit vote is still realigning British politics

Nigel Farage's 'turquoise tidal wave' has redrawn the electoral map

Donald Macintyre: how should Labour fight back against Reform?

Keir Starmer should confront the threat head on instead of running scared

Simon Walters: this is why Reform won Runcorn

Making speeches about patriotism is easy – fixing potholes is harder 

What else you need to know today

The Independent View

Politics explained

Live results map for every council and mayor race

Nearly all the results are in now: check the latest updates here... 

Read more

Quiz answer: November 2014, when Mark Reckless, the former Tory MP defected to Ukip and regained Rochester and Strood in a by-election (Douglas Carswell had done the same in Clacton in October) 

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