Nigel Farage unveiled Reform UK’s by-election candidate for Runcorn and Helsby yesterday - and said his party could take the seat in a "hell of a tussle". The party leader said candidate Sarah Pochin, a former Tory mayor, had a “much better CV” than former Labour MP Mike Amesbury, who resigned after being handed a suspended prison sentence.

Despite the constituency being the 16th safest Labour seat in the country, Mr Farage knows the party "can do it". Ms Pochin, a former Cheshire East councillor and magistrate, was announced by Reform outside of their new Runcorn office where Mr Farage introduced her as someone "who is going to be a lawmaker, and I promise not a law-breaker". The Reform candidate was a councillor for the Cheshire East authority from 2015 until 2023, and was mayor of the council from 2021 to 2022.

Ms Pochin told the Express: "Reform stands up for common sense which is sadly lacking in our politics at the moment.

"The British people want to get back to basic good values of what we care about, and Reform is the party that is standing up for British values."

Ms Pochin slammed Sir Keir Starmer’s first 10 months in office as "an absolute disaster", adding how she believes "the two tier justice system is an absolute disgrace".

The Reform hopeful will be battling against the Labour candidate Karen Shore, Conservative Sean Houlston, Lib Dems Paul Duffy and the Green’s Chris Copeman.

Mr Farage said he was "very, very proud, as a party, that we’re putting someone like this up for the first by-election of this parliament".

He added: “She’s been successful in private business, she’s been successful in local politics, she’s been a mayor - so in the community, as a magistrate, this is a very, very strong candidate.

“When somebody who’s given such a large chunk of their life to the magistrate as Sarah has come out and tell you that she fears we’ve got two-tier justice, I think people need to start listening.”

On Wednesday, Labour will be unveiling their Spring Statement which Mr Farage believes will be "dismal".

He said: "I think that [Rachel Reeves’] ability to spread pessimism is pretty good throughout the British economy.

"We’re facing a really major crunch point next week and in particular, I’m talking about retail and hospitality. There’s a good five million jobs in those industries. I don’t know a single employer who isn’t considering laying people off. I think we’re going to see a lot of people lose their jobs over the course of this summer."

Mr Amesbury pleaded guilty in January to assaulting Paul Fellows, 45, after a row in the street in Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early hours of October 26.

Footage showed Amesbury punching Paul Fellows to the head, knocking him to the ground, then following him on to the road and starting to punch him again, at least five times.