Nigel Farage and Reform UK have achieved an important breakthrough after a major bookmaker named them favourites to win the next general election for the first time. Bookmaker Coral now makes Reform UK the 6-4 favourites to win the most seats at the next general election.

Coral's John Hill said: "For the first time since they were founded, Reform UK now top our betting to win the most seats at a general election. We continue to see one-way traffic for the party ahead of the next election, with Nigel Farage also the favourite to be the next prime minister." It follows Reform's win in recent local elections and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.

Coral is offering odds of 13-8 on Labour winning the most seats at the next election, while the Conservatives are third best at 9-4.

Winning the most seats doesn't neccesarily mean winning a majority in Parliament, and if nobody gets a majority then it's possible for other parties to work together to stop the largest one forming a government. However Coral also has Nigel Farage as favourite to be the next Prime Minister after Keir Starmer with odds of 3-1, and Kemi Badenoch is two points further back at 5-1.

Reform are hoping to make further gains in next year's Scottish and Welsh elections. The party believes it can humiliate both Labour and the Conservatives in Scotland by coming second in elections for the Parliament in Holyrood, which the SNP are expected to win.

And they are hoping for an even bigger triumph in Wales where they claim they could become the largest party in elections for the Welsh assembly, despite polls showing nationalist party Plaid Cymru is currently ahead. Mr Farage is to make frequent visits to both countries in the run-up to polls next May, with a particular focus on Wales.

Polling by Survation suggests that if an election was held in Scotland today then the SNP would be the largest party with 58 seats, following by Reform on 21, Labour on 18 and Conservatives on 13.

Meanwhile, YouGov polling suggests Plaid would win 30% of the vote in Wales, with 25% saying they will back Reform and Labour third with 18%. However Reform insist they can build on this to become the largest party following next year’s election.

The party also claims to have an army of 11,000 activists in Wales and 10,500 in Scotland ready to canvas and deliver leaflets.
Local elections which saw Reform seize control of 10 councils led to suggestions that the area of two party politics was at an end.

Nigel Farage and Reform UK are planning a policy blitz designed to show voters they have a plan for transport, education and dealing with the cost of living - and not just the issues they are most associated with such as immigration and defending Brexit.

The party will publish detailed manifestos for Wales and Scotland which will then be developed into a UK-wide policy programme.

At the same time, the party hopes to use the local councils it controls following election wins earlier this month to demonstrate what a Reform government would look like in power.

“We are going to resist illegal immigrants being put in the places we control now,” a source said. “And we are going to focus on the day-to-day job which is potholes and making sure the bins are collected, instead of spending money on people coming in to provide diversity training and climate change training. That’s not what people pay their taxes for.”

But Reform insiders believe that whatever the electoral arithmetic, voters will see the next election as a battle between two candidates for Prime Minister - Sir Keir Starmer, the incumbent, and one credible alternative. It means Reform leader Nigel Farage and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch are locked in a battle to cement themselves in voters’ minds as the alternative to Sir Keir.