By Isabella Link | May 9, 2026
Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain party has won every council seat in Great Yarmouth, including in the leader’s own constituency. Contesting the seats under the slogan “Great Yarmouth First”, the nationalist party secured all ten divisions with historically strong margins.
The result represents one of the most decisive performances by a newly formed local political group in recent Norfolk history and points to a significant shift in the region’s right-wing politics. Great Yarmouth, long viewed as a Conservative stronghold, saw traditional parties suffer a sharp decline in support.
The party’s strongest showing came in North Caister and Ormesby, where Glenn Hurren took 2,072 votes — 1,159 ahead of Reform UK in second place. In South Caister and Bure, Daniel McGrath won by a majority of 940 votes, while Jason Hughes secured Fleggs with a 994-vote margin. In Breydon, Michael French defeated Reform UK by exactly 1,000 votes, polling 1,824 to 824. Restore Britain also recorded large majorities in Magdalen (1,111 votes) and Yarmouth North and Central, where Steve Grimmer won by 1,022 votes over Reform UK.
Across the borough, Reform UK finished second in most wards, while Conservative support collapsed. The Conservatives failed to reach 700 votes in many divisions and fell as low as 141 votes in Yarmouth Nelson and Southtown. Labour and the Greens remained in third and fourth places, with no other party mounting a serious challenge.
Voter turnout across Great Yarmouth averaged 46.02 per cent. The highest turnout was in Fleggs at 53.35 per cent, followed closely by North Caister and Ormesby at 53.27 per cent. Turnout was lowest in Yarmouth North and Central and Yarmouth Nelson and Southtown, at around 35 per cent. In total, 34,048 votes were cast from an electorate of 73,979.
Reacting to the result, Rupert Lowe said history had been made and that Restore Britain would “provide an option to elected people from outside the rotten political establishment”. Party activist and campaigns director Charlie Downes added that “the country doesn’t know what is coming”.
The victory comes as Restore Britain attracts growing national interest, with recent polling putting the party at around nine per cent support. The strong performance in Great Yarmouth is likely to bolster Lowe’s standing in the broader anti-establishment scene and place further pressure on both Reform UK and the Conservatives in the run-up to future elections.
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