Reform's chances of Ashfield victory have risen since Farage announcement, bookies say

Bookies say the chances of a Reform victory in Ashfield have increased after Nigel Farage partly credited the area for his change of heart on standing in the general election. Mr Farage told Nottinghamshire Live during his visit to Skegby on Saturday (June 1) that he would be an "idiot" to rule out changing his mind on standing himself in the July 4 election.

The new leader of Reform UK then announced he had indeed changed his mind during a press conference on Monday (June 3). Asked what had inspired the change, Mr Farage described hearing disappointment on the streets of Skegness and added: "The next morning I was in Ashfield with Lee Anderson and getting the same thing. I got home late Saturday night and had time to think about it and then Sunday morning I just thought 'I'm just not feeling good about this, I'm letting people down'".

Following Mr Farage's announcement, the Oddschecker website now says that Ashfield is one of the constituencies Reform UK has a chance of winning. Reform are fielding Lee Anderson in the seat, first elected as the area's Conservative MP in 2019.

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Labour remain the odds-on favourites to win Ashfield, with a 59.8% probability according to bookmakers. Yet Reform has taken 79% of the total bets on Oddschecker since the Farage announcement.

The party's probability of winning the seat has therefore increased from 16.1% to 20.4%, well ahead of the Conservative Party's probability of 2.8%. Leon Blackman, from Oddschecker, said: "Nigel Farage's announcement that he will stand for MP in Clacton has sent ripples through the political betting markets.

"Reform's chances of claiming seats have now improved according to the bookmakers and Ashfield is one of the constituencies the party has a chance of winning." Below are all the candidates, presented in alphabetical order by surname, who we are aware of so far for Ashfield.

Reform

Lee Anderson

Green

Alexander Coates

Labour

Rhea Keehn

Conservative

Debbie Soloman

Independent

Jason Zadrozny