Nigel Farage hails Reform UK’s ‘almost unbelievable’ results in north-east England

Exit poll predicts hard-right party winning 13 seats and early declarations show it outperforming Tories in north-east

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Nigel Farage has hailed Reform UK's almost unbelievable" early performances in former leave-voting seats, predicting that the party will win many, many seats right across the country" as the election unfolds.

Lee Anderson, the former Conservative deputy chair who became Reform's first MP earlier this year when he joined the hard-right party, won its first seat of the night when he held his Ashfield constituency.