They're the same as the Tories. But Starmer acknowledged on Monday the Runcorn by-election was "going to be tough". "They've still got time to turn things around," the 61-year-old said. Turnout for by-elections is notoriously low.Nevertheless, a Reform win would give the party "momentum", said David Jeffery, a British politics lecturer at the University of Liverpool. "The flip side is that they can sometimes cause party leaders embarrassment," said Tim Bale, politics protessor at Queen Mary University of London.Reform has had to drop candidates for making offensive comments.
