Is Nigel Farage’s quest to rid Reform of ‘amateurism’ paying off?

Runcorn win was much bigger than polls implied, suggesting overall effectiveness of ground campaign

• Results come in from across England - follow live

For the last few months, Nigel Farage has been promising to professionalise his Reform UK party, saying its general election result of five seats had been hampered by the party's amateurism".

Friday's narrow victory in the Runcorn and Helsby byelection suggests his strategy is starting to bear fruit. Not only did the party win a seat in which it came a distant third less than a year ago, but it did so with a much bigger swing than implied by the national polls - demonstrating the effectiveness of the party's ground campaign.