Streeting says Reform are real threat and may become Labour’s main rivals

Wes Streeting says Labour are aware voters will ‘look for change elsewhere’ if their record is not good enough. Photograph: Jeff Overs/PA

Wes Streeting has said Reform is a real threat and could replace the Conservatives as the main opposition party by the next election, as he urged the public to give Labour the “benefit of the doubt”.

The health secretary said Nigel Farage’s party was being treated as a “serious opposition force” after Reform’s success in the local elections, where it narrowly won a byelection from Labour and took 677 council seats, gaining control of 10 councils. Reform took most seats from the Conservatives, who lost 674, while Labour lost 187.