If Makerfield looks anything to go by, Reform face losing to an unpopular Labour party at the next general election, having seen their voteshare squeezed by Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain, policy editor Martin Beckford has told the Daily Mail's Deep Dive podcast.

Based on the latest polling, Beckford said it appears today's by-election will end with Reform's Robert Kenyon losing out to Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham by a margin roughly equivalent to Restore's share of the vote.

This same fractured right scenario could play out across the country come the next general election, he predicted, with Restore leader Lowe signalling his unwillingness to strike any electoral deals with former colleague Nigel Farage.

Lowe has recently shown he has the desire, money and online support to mount a serious general election charge, making a future 'squeezing' of the Reform vote increasingly likely, Beckford argued.

'It is definitely possible that Restore could stand in most seats', he said.

'They certainly won't be doing any deals to stand down, like the Tories did in 2019.

'At the local elections, Lowe put 10 candidates up for Great Yarmouth First, an offshoot of Restore and won every seat. So, he's certainly shown he is capable of getting the party machinery out there.

'For the past year, Reform had all the momentum but since then they have flatlined in the polls.

'Things have not been going well for them. The Tories are also doing better - it's pretty much an agreement across politics that Kemi Badenoch is coming into her own.

'With Restore snapping at their heels, Reform are really going to get squeezed. The more Lowe sees that, the more motivated he will be to keep going.'

While acknowledging Lowe's success in potentially splitting the right wing vote, Beckford described Restore's campaigning in Makerfield as 'unpleasant'.

Last week, the Mail on Sunday exclusivley revealed that some of those campaigning for Restore had attended a white supremacist conference alongside neo-Nazis.

He also joked that voters may get a shock when they reach the polling booth and find that Lowe himself is not actually on the ballot, given his central role in the party's pitch to the electorate.

'The campaign in Makerfield has really all been about him', he said.

'They had an event at a race course where young men were chanting: 'Rupert! Rupert! Rupert!' You don't often hear that. There are stickers with his face on it reading, vote Lowe, go high.

'They've had squadrons of young guys in cars, who've had stand-up rows with Reform activists.

'They got in the way of the Reform open-top bus, stood outside Reform HQ shouting at them - it got quite unpleasant on the streets up there.'

Listen to Beckford and political editor James Tapsfield's full analysis of the Makerfield by-election by searching for Deep Dive, wherever you get your podcasts.