Former Reform UK candidate Mark Hoath has hailed a "fantastic night" for Nigel Farage's party, claiming that voters in Britain are "turning their backs" on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.Just six votes separated Reform UK and Labour as Sarah Pochin was elected to Parliament in the Runcorn & Helsby by-election - making her the party's first female MP.FULL STORY HERE.
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00:00Are we seeing the end of Officer Keir Starmer and the rise of Reform UK?
00:04We are joined by former Reform candidate Mark Hose and also former Labour Special Advisor Paul Richards.
00:11OK, let's start with you. Paul Richards, what do you think?
00:14Do you feel we're seeing a little slippery slidey slope that Keir Starmer is now at the top of?
00:21No, no, you'll be astonished to learn that I don't think that.
00:24I do think that the by-election tells us some important lessons around policy.
00:28But we do all know, don't we, that in government, you tend to lose by-elections, regardless of whichever party is in power.
00:35I remember George Galloway doing something very similar before the last election, and then he lost the seat at the general election.
00:42So I don't think you can read a little bit much into these kind of results.
00:47And, you know, if 10 people had voted a different way, then we'd be saying, oh, you know,
00:52Starmer has pulled off in the most amazing coup of winning a by-election and, you know, his position is secured.
00:58So, you know, 10 votes either way.
00:59Oh, Paul, Paul, come on.
01:01Labour lost a majority of 14,000.
01:03Come on, Paul.
01:04When I called this on GB News, you know, six weeks ago, I think this was always going to be a reform victory.
01:10Because if your guy goes around hitting the voters, the voters are going to punch back, aren't they?
01:15And that was always going to be what happens.
01:17And also mentioning George Galloway, I think we can all, none of us can unsee the image of him being a cat.
01:22So I think that may have not worked in his favour when he won that.
01:25That was everywhere.
01:26OK, Marcos, what do you think?
01:29Well, I think it's been a fantastic night for us.
01:31A bit bleary-eyed this morning.
01:33It was a late night, staying up to see us take Runcorn, which was fantastic.
01:38But it's not just Runcorn.
01:40I mean, it's all very well for him to say, you know, he expects us to win Runcorn.
01:43We've got a 28% swing in North Tyneside.
01:48And the whole momentum is with us now.
01:51And people are just turning their backs on Starmer.
01:54You were right, Ben, what you said about how less engaged that audience were on the press conference just before we came on.
02:03And that's the attitude of the British people when it comes to Starmer.
02:06You know, they're not engaged.
02:08They don't really know what he stands for.
02:11And what we've seen over this campaign is a smear tactic by Starmer, making complete lies about the NHS, for example, and our stance on the NHS.
02:21And, frankly, people have ignored him because he lies all the time.
02:25Sorry, where was he lying?
02:26What is your stance on the NHS, briefly?
02:28Well, our stance is that it needs reform and it needs to be free at the point of use.
02:34And that was on our manifesto in the election last year.
02:38It's still our policy and it's just ridiculous for them to try and slander and say, you know, sending out leaflets with bills on saying this is how much a hip operation will cost.
02:48I mean, it's just blatant lying.
02:50And the thing is, what's happening now, as you see, is people are seeing through these lies and they're just ignoring him.
02:57And that's what happened last night.
02:59And it's going to continue to happen and we're going to continue to grow.
03:01Because our candidates run a really good campaign.
03:04Well, Paul's shaking his head at some of the things you're saying.
03:07So, Paul, why?
03:08I mean, on your point on the NHS, you know, Nigel Farage has said that he would support a social insurance model for the national health service, changing its basis.
03:16And that's why Labour ran that campaign.
03:18So, hang on a minute, just think twice about this before you think about voting for reform.
03:22But, you know, on the mayoralty elections, the Reform Party did not break through in the three that Labour actually won last night.
03:29They had big swings, you know, and I give all credit for that.
03:32But they didn't win in some of these places like Doncaster, where they were predicted to.