Reform were projected to win 13 seats in the exit poll.
Political reporter @fayebrownSky
Friday 5 July 2024 03:33, UK
Nigel Farage has been elected as an MP for the first time, on his eighth attempt.
The Reform UK leader will represent the Essex seat of Clacton.
Speaking after the result, he said: "I think what Reform UK has achieved in just a few short weeks is truly extraordinary."
He added: "There's no enthusiasm for Labour whatsoever. This Labour government will be in troublevery, very quickly. We're coming for Labour, be in no doubt about that.
"This is just the first step of something that's going to stun all of you."
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Earlier, former Tory MP Lee Anderson became Reform's first elected MP when he was re-elected in his Ashfield seat, after previously defecting from the Conservatives.
Mr Anderson was the deputy Conservative party chairman under Rishi Sunak but was sacked earlier this year following a row over comments he made about London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
He went on to defect to Reform UK, and has now held on to his seat in Nottinghamshire.
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Mr Anderson won the seat comfortably, clinching 17,062 votes compared to 11,553 for Labour, who came in second.
In an even further blow to the Conservatives, they came in fourth behind an independent.
Reform UK looks set to establish further footholds in parliament.
Mr Farage hailed "huge" early results after the general election exit poll projected his party would win 13 seats.
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Most of the early results were Labour holds in the North East of England.
But in one of the first blows for the Conservative Party, Reform UK came second in nearly all of those seats, pushing the Tories into third placeand even fourth in Gateshead Central & Whickham.
Welcoming the signs of promise for his party, Mr Farage said on X: "It's midnight, there are two results in from the northeast of England that put Reform on 30% of the vote, that is way more than any possible prediction or projection. It is almost unbelievable.
"And what does it mean? It means we're going to win seatsmany, many seats I thinkright now across the country."
He added: "This is going to be six million votes plus. This folks is huge."
The clip was captioned: "The revolt against the establishment is under way."
Mr Farage's ultimate aim is to make Reform the official opposition to Labour, who are projected to win this election by a landslide.
Sir Keir Starmer's party looks set to secure the win with an estimated 410 seatsequating to an overall majority of 170according to the poll by Ipsos UK for Sky News/BBC/ITV News.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives are projected to win just 131 seats, compared to 365 in the 2019 vote, which could be the party's lowest seat total in its modern history.
Some of the Tories' most senior figures are also predicted to lose their seats, including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer.
The success of Reform is likely to play a huge role in the future direction of the Tory party.
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Speaking to Sky News, former Tory cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom said it was a "devastating night" but claimed the reason for the scale of the projected losses was because they had "not been properly Conservative enough" to win over voters.
She added: "I think Reform have done very well out of it because they've been a protest... and we're going to have to rethink."
Read more:What the exit poll forecasts where you liveUK politics is being transformedhere's how and whyThe big Tory beasts who could lose their seats
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