Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has branded the Prime Minister a “coward” following Labour’s bruising defeat in a by-election. Speaking at the Runcorn and Helsby count, where he arrived moments before party candidate Sarah Pochin was declared the winner in a crunch by-election, Mr Farage was asked why he thought Sir Keir Starmer had not visited the constituency during the campaign.

He said: “Because he’s a coward. He doesn’t lead from the front. He obviously feared they might lose, therefore he didn’t come. I knocked on doors for eight hours today and I would have been here in this hall with our candidate regardless, whether we had won or lost by six votes.”

He said Sir Keir was “caution, caution, caution” and added: “No one really knows quite what he actually believes.”

Ellie Reeves denied Sir Keir had failed to take the by-election seriously enough.

Asked why the Prime Minister had not visited the constituency, the Labour chairwoman told Sky News: “Prime Ministers don’t normally campaign in by-elections. The Prime Minister has been getting on with running the country, for example, saving British Steel, visiting Jaguar Land Rover, and representing the UK at the Pope’s funeral.”

The Runcorn and Helsby by-election ran alongside local elections across England. It was triggered when former Labour MP Mike Amesbury quit after he was convicted of punching a constituent.

Amesbury won 53% of the vote at the General Election. The defeat, along with Reform gains in other Labour heartlands, will cause unease in Downing Street.