Margaret Thatcher had a phrase she often repeated when challenged on her strident adherence to her unapologetically right-wing economic principles. “There is no alternative,” the former Conservative prime minister would say to those who pointed out the social unrest and industrial devastation her policies were causing.

Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin beat Sir Keir Starmer’s candidate Karen Shore by six votes in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.

Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour party in local elections that dealt a blow to Britain's two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage,