Labour fights to hold on to Runcorn in byelection despite Reform surge

Labour’s candidate in Thursday’s Runcorn and Helsby byelection has insisted the contest is “definitely still in play” as Reform UK became odds-on favourite to win.

Two polls have suggested Nigel Farage’s party is on track to overturn Labour’s 14,700 majority in the first electoral test of Keir Starmer’s premiership.

It would mark one of the biggest swings in voter opinion in recent UK political history and would be a significant blow to Starmer in one of Labour’s safest seats.

Senior Labour figures have sought to manage expectations ahead of polling day on Thursday, with the prime minister admitting it would be “tough” and Ellie Reeves, the party chair, accusing the Conservatives of “gifting” the seat to Farage by not campaigning.

However, Labour’s candidate, Karen Shore, told the Guardian the reception had been “really positive” and victory was still in sight. “It’s going to be close and we need to make sure we work it until the end,” she said. “It’s definitely still in play, I think.”

Bookmakers have made Farage’s party odds-on favourite to win the Cheshire byelection, which was triggered by the resignation of Mike Amesbury, the former MP who was convicted earlier this year of punching a constituent.

Shore, the former deputy leader of Cheshire West and Chester council, said: “We knew at the beginning of this campaign that it was going to be challenging and difficult because of the national picture and the fact it’s a byelection – there’s 15 candidates.

“We came in knowing that it was going to be a slog but I’m the kind of person who doesn’t give up and I’m in it to win it.”

Labour’s campaign in Runcorn and Helsby attracted criticism after Shore launched a Facebook petition to close “the asylum hotel” – a tactic described by Zarah Sultana, the former Labour MP who now sits as an independent, as “callous and indefensible”.

Shore, who had “warmly welcomed” asylum seekers to the area while she was deputy council leader, denied it was a “cynical” attempt to stem the flow of votes to Reform UK. She said: “I accept that the tone of it could’ve been slightly different – and the fact it was exploited by the populists.”

“I’m an inclusive, welcoming person. I spent half my life fighting prejudice and discrimination and I just can’t abide some of the rhetoric that comes out of them,” she said.

“Yes, it was controversial at the beginning of the campaign, to answer your question, and reflecting on it [we] could have handled it slightly differently but I still stand by the fact that we do need to close them.”

Shore, a former teacher, said placing asylum seekers in a hotel was “no way to live” and that “we need to do better than that for people”.

Reform UK’s candidate, Sarah Pochin, a former magistrate, has focused her campaign on immigration, targeting asylum hotels, houses of multiple occupation and Turkish barbers.

Shore said her rival’s campaign had “demonise[d] people” to “create fear and scapegoat people”. Asked whether she believed it was racist, she said: “Some of it could be. It’s for them to say whether they’re racist or not.”