Nigel Farage admitted that Reform fell victim to Labour adopting his 'get Keir Starmer out' message in Makerfield.

The Reform leader said he was 'disappointed' as local plumber Robert Kenyon picked up 16,000 votes – 2,000 short of predictions.

And he issued a plea to supporters of Rupert Lowe's hard-Right Restore Britain – asking them to 'think again' about backing his party in future.

Mr Kenyon, whose campaign was dogged by old social media posts, came second in the ballot with 35 per cent of the vote, finishing 20 percentage points behind former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.

Mr Burnham increased Labour's vote share compared to the 2024 general election in a significant blow to Reform – which had picked up every council seat in the constituency in May's local elections.

In a video message on social media, Mr Farage, who was in the area but did not attend the count, was conciliatory in defeat, saying Mr Burnham had secured a 'dramatic, emphatic win, with a vote share no-one could quite see coming'.

The 'very popular local mayor', he said, had been successful with 'vote Burnham, get Starmer out, which of course was our campaign message leading up to the local elections on May 7', leaving Reform 'hoist with our own petard'.

And in a plea to voters who backed rivals Restore Britain, Mr Farage said: 'As for the Reform vote share, well, I thought we would get 18,000 votes, we got just shy of 16,000 so I'm disappointed by that, no question about it.

'But I would say this: there's a couple of thousand voters there who would normally have gone out and voted Reform that voted Restore, and I would say directly to them, what do you want?

'We are the challenger party to the Left in this country, and I would urge you to think again. I really, really would.' 

Mr Burnham won 54.8 per cent of all votes cast. Mr Kenyon won 34.5 per cent, while Restore's Rebecca Shepherd won 6.8 per cent, putting the two Right-wing parties on 41.3 per cent. 

With Reform having now failed to win its past two attempts to gain an extra MP in England, pollster Luke Tryl, from More in Common, said the result was 'unarguably' the party's worst night since the general election.

Reform deputy leader Richard Tice said the party 'were always the underdogs' because it was contesting a seat 'that has been Labour for 100 years'.

He insisted that Reform was ploughing the right furrow and that Mr Burnham's by-election win was 'a reinforcement' of his party's campaign line.

Mr Tice told Times Radio: 'What we saw was in a sense, a reinforcement of the message we had in the local elections, which we stood on 'vote Reform to get Starmer out'.

'And Andy Burnham, to a greater degree than perhaps even we appreciated, his message was also vote Burnham, get Starmer out.'

He added: 'If it came to a general election and... if Burnham becomes the prime minister, he might go early, bring it on. As far as we're concerned, we're leading in the national polls, we'll be ready. And if people don't want hard socialism under Burnham, you've got to vote Reform. It's as simple as that.'

The Conservatives yesterday couldn't disguise their glee at the result, with the party wasting no time in sticking the boot in.

A spokesman said: 'There is no disguising the fact that this is a disastrous result for Reform. Makerfield was one of their top target seats anywhere in the country, yet despite throwing everything at it, they have failed to win.'

Voters backed him to 'get Starmer out'

After securing more votes than all his opponents put together, Andy Burnham said his new constituency would be his 'touchstone' and not 'a stepping stone'.

He said the small towns south of Wigan are the type of 'neglected' areas which need 'fairness' from Westminster. 

But some voters said they backed Mr Burnham purely to give him a 'stepping stone' to oust Keir Starmer, with many doubting he will continue to champion Makerfield if he becomes Prime Minister.

Lynn Seddon, 65, said: 'We've given him our vote so he has the chance to force Starmer out.'

Anthony McCullough, 44, who switched from Reform to Labour, said: 'I don't like Burnham or what he stands for, but I dislike Starmer and what he's done to this country even more. Voting Labour will have been worth it if he's kicked out.'

John Simpkin, 71, voted Reform having backed Labour in the past. 'There's no point changing PM if the policies stay the same,' he said.