Runcorn and Helsby by-election: Labour targets Tory voters to keep out Reform

Karen Shore’s campaign are fighting for every vote as the by-election in Runcorn looks set to come down to the wire.

Labour both seems to have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at the election – resources have been pulled from elsewhere and more than 150 MPs have visited – while also keeping Keir Starmer away from the fray.

Starmer’s refusal to visit Runcorn reportedly makes him the first leader in almost two decades not to campaign in their first defensive by-election. It’s a striking decision, and one that speaks to how the party views the leader’s popularity in a constituency which voted overwhelmingly to put him into power less than one year ago.

In contrast, Nigel Farage has put Runcorn squarely in his sights – actively campaigning in the seat himself – and it appears to be paying off, with his party the bookie’s favourite to overturn Labour’s 14,700 majority.

READ MORE: Could anger at MP and Labour risk by-election loss?

Despite this, a source close to Labour candidate Karen Shore’s campaign said “it’s going to be close”. The source added that Farage has been ahead in the polls from the start, but they will be “campaigning to the end for every vote”.

Reform has been ‘running the town down’

On my last visit to Runcorn I interviewed Shore and joined her on a canvassing session in Dunham-on-the-Hill a staunchly Conservative area. Shore’s team hope they can convince some of these voters to lend their vote to Labour to keep Reform out.

Returning again the day before polling day, I was struck by the change in the atmosphere around the by-election campaign. One local told me it was a “nasty” campaign, and that he was sick of Reform “running down” the town on social media.

Mikey, a 59-year-old blues musician who declined to give his second name, said he would be “voting against Reform”. He said the party was “playing on the fears of people” and “scaremongering” about immigration.

“They’ve really been running the town down on social media. The candidate’s been posting videos alleging all sorts of tension, exaggerating numbers of immigrants in the area, saying there’s prostitution and drug dealing… it’s been really shocking to me.”

He said Runcorn wasn’t the richest town, “but it’s not a dangerous place like she’s making out.”

“Look around, this is probably one of the most un-multicultural towns you’ll ever see in the country, something like a 95% white population.”

There’s too many of them coming over

Although 96.6% of Runcorn residents identified as white in the 2021 census, there’s no denying that immigration has become an issue in the by-election. Multiple locals raised it with me as a reason for why they were voting for Reform.

Electrician Gareth Moorhead, 43, said the town was no longer safe, and he would be voting “for Farage”.

“There’s too many of them coming over, especially around here, wow it’s rife.”

He said there had been an influx of migrants in the last year, and alleged that some were involved in criminality.

“It’s purely for that, for me, it’s dangerous for young kids and that around here. At night, at the weekend, there’s clubs here, and you see them all sitting, watching the girls and shouting stuff. ”

The only people I’ve seen in my shop are journalists

With scores of journalists making the pilgrimage up to Runcorn ahead of the by-election, locals are becoming increasingly media-savvy.

Bernie Conlon, 71, a lifelong Labour voter who will be voting for Reform, told me he had had more journalists visit his hat shop than customers in the past few weeks.

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Like a number of people I spoke to, he contrasted Runcorn’s rundown shopping streets with Widnes, the largest other town in the Halton local authority area.

“They’ve got a massive shopping centre there, there’s just nothing here. The only thing they want to build here is flats. It’s looking like we’re going to have to close.”

He said he was having to bail out the shop, which he has run for 10 years, every month.

“There’s nobody around, the only people I’ve seen is you guys.” He said he was voting Reform to “get rid” of Labour.

Brenda Inman, 66, said she had voted for Labour already via postal vote. “Reform looks really good but… I’ve stuck with my guns.”

She said her son had told her to vote for Nigel Farage’s party. “Keir Starmer is more like Tony Blair, a Conservative in disguise. But Labour has got to be for the working person doesn’t it?”

Read our coverage of the 2025 local elections:

• Expert predicts ‘bad night’ with no net Labour gains 
• Analysis: What’s a good night for Labour?
• Where’s Keir? PM barely features in Labour party election broadcasts for the locals
• Analysis: ‘Uxbridgitis: If election results are grim, let’s not learn the wrong lessons again’
• Long shadow of Gaza looms over key Lancashire battleground
• Hull and East Yorkshire mayor election: Labour candidate spars with Reform’s boxing star in UK’s most disillusioned city
• Cambridgeshire & Peterborough mayor election: Nik Johnson on why he’s standing down and Anna Smith on knife-edge Labour-Tory fight to replace him
• The meme elections: Labour’s social media pivot to take fight to Farage
• Inside the West of England mayor campaign, from Tory and Green threats to Dan Norris and low voter awareness
• Runcorn and Helsby: At least 150 Labour MPs visit – but Keir Starmer ain’t one
• Runcorn and Helsby interview: Labour candidate Karen Shore on Reform, the NHS and closing asylum hotels

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