Reform UK candidate William Burvill won the Cuxton, Halling and Riverside ward by-election with 838 votes.
The result, declared by Medway Council on 23 July, overturned a seat the Conservatives had held without interruption since 1998. Labour's Iain Michael Childs came a distant second on 269 votes. Richard Niall Thorne of the Conservatives received 726, Trish Marchant of the Greens 482, and Ronald Arcon Gillett of the Liberal Democrats 35.
Turnout reached 37.5 per cent, with 2,352 ballot papers issued from 6,267 registered voters. Two votes were rejected. The by-election followed the death in May of the previous Conservative councillor Phil Filmer.
Reform UK has now secured three by-election victories in Medway Council. The party's candidate told Kent Online that the outcome sent a clear message: residents are fed up with the same two parties who have taken their voices and votes for granted for too long. He described the ward as the crown jewel for the Conservatives.
The figures expose a sharp shift. The Conservative total fell well short of Reform's despite the seat's long history as safe ground. Labour's performance, in particular, registered as an outlier even by the standards of recent local contests in the area.
Green candidate Trish Marchant acknowledged to Kent Online that Reform's growth had been noticeable since the previous year, though she insisted her own party had been building support locally for some time and remained confident of future gains.
