Runcorn and Helsby by-election results: Recount ordered with ‘four votes in it’

A full recount has been ordered in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, with speculation just four votes could separate the first- and second-placed candidates.

Labour had expected the contest to go down to the wire, with a high turnout at the parliamentary by-election to replace Mike Amesbury, with a senior party source saying early in the night results were “tight but encouraging”.

But Reform UK said they were ahead by four votes, and that Labour had asked for the recount. In the remarkable event the vote were tied, the returning officer would choose the winner by lot – such as pulling names out of a box.

The atmosphere at the DCBL sports stadium in Widnes was palpably anxious as scores of vote counters worked through the early hours. Halton council counting tables were set up in the regional table tennis centre.

READ MORE: Labour holds North Tyneside mayor but vote halves as Reform come close

Candidates gathered around the returning officer to hear an update at around 3am, sparking first speculation of a recount.

There was a sharp intake of breath across the hall when the news of a full recount was relaid an hour later first to the candidates, who then rushed to the press to tell them the news.

Members of the Monster Raving Loony Party danced as a surreal atmosphere took hold. Ballot papers then started to be laid out on tables again as the recount began.

READ MORE: Labour targets Tory voters to keep out Reform

Voter turnout is typically low in by-elections, but Runcorn and Helsby was confirmed as relatively high at 46.33%. This is on a par with the 2023 Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election which had a turnout of 46.1%.

However, this is still significantly lower than the turnout of 59.7% when Labour won in last year’s general election.

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A source close to Karen Shore’s campaign had told LabourList early in the night: “It’s gonna be close.” Another senior party source told Sky News that early results “tight but encouraging”.

Reform UK’s Richard Tice had said at around 2am that results looked “very, very close – nip and tuck – way too close to call. Even that – if we won Runcorn, that’s the equivalent of winning Hackney South, currently occupied by Diane Abbott, in terms of majority”.

He said there was a “seismic shift going on tonight in British politics where Reform is taking huge chunks of votes and seats from both main parties”.

A result in the race is expected at around 3am, with the podium ready for the winner to be named.

The press have taken over an office space in the building, with Halton Borough Council supplying boxes of crisps and chocolate.

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Earlier in the night a group of protesters gathered outside the centre. They chanted “refugees are welcome here.”

Speaking to LabourList outside the centre, charity worker Miranda Clarke, 53, said: “A lot of people are not racist. There’s been this narrative of Reform coming into the area and stirring things up. We’re just here to make it very clear, we’re not racist, we’re anti-racist.”

Another protester, Consultant John Hind, 62, said he was there to campaign against Reform: “I don’t like their policies, I don’t think they’re good for Britain. “I don’t think they’re good for the community, I do think they’re racist. Fascism has been gaining a foothold in this country, it’s been here this whole time. I don’t want to see it go any further, if I can help it.”

Read more on the 2025 local elections:

Results on the night

Analysis and what to expect

• Three ways to measure Labour’s success tonight
• Expert predicts ‘bad night’ with no net Labour gains
• ‘Uxbridgitis: If election results are grim, let’s not learn the wrong lessons again’
• Where’s Keir? PM barely features in Labour party election broadcasts for the locals
• The meme elections: Labour’s social media pivot to take fight to Farage

LabourList’s on-the-ground reports from the campaign

• Hull and East Yorkshire: Labour candidate spars with Reform’s boxing star in UK’s most disillusioned city
• Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Nik Johnson on why he’s standing down and Anna Smith on knife-edge Labour-Tory fight to replace him
• West of England: Tory and Green threats, Dan Norris and low voter awareness
• Lancashire: Long shadow of Gaza looms over key battleground

Inside the Runcorn campaign

• Mood on the doorstep: Labour’s last push for Tory voters to keep out Reform
• At least 150 Labour MPs visit – but Keir Starmer ain’t one
• Karen Shore interview: Labour candidate on Reform, the NHS and closing asylum hotels
• Runcorn poll: One in ten Labour voters expected to back Reform

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