"People have now seen Reform in action, and they don't like it."
Labour has won back a seat off Reform UK on Durham County Council, which Nigel Farage’s party took control of in May 2025.
The by-election was triggered by David Cumming, former Reform councillor for Murton, resigning in December last year after just seven months as the ward’s representative. He stepped down due to overseas work commitments.
Labour’s candidate Julie Ann Griffiths won the Murton council by-election with 1,004 votes, with Reform’s Theo Bell in second on 786 votes.
This marks a significant blow to Reform, which has now lost two seats on a council it controls. The party won 65 of the council’s 98 seats last May but has since lost one by-election to the Liberal Democrats and another to Labour.
Local campaigners say that the by-election result reflects growing anger over changes to council tax support in Durham.
In December last year, Reform-led Durham County Council agreed to remove 100% council tax reductions for low-earners, meaning most residents will have to pay at least 10% of their bills from April.
The council leader Andrew Husband said at the time that it was a “very generous offer”, and that “welfare should be a safety net, not a lifestyle choice”.
Reacting to the result, one X user wrote: “People have now seen Reform in action, and they don’t like it.”
Another commented: “People that might have been seduced by Reform’s populist soundbites are waking up to the reality that they can’t, and don’t, deliver.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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