{"id":1325,"date":"2026-06-17T10:21:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=1325"},"modified":"2026-06-17T10:21:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:21:44","slug":"why-uks-makerfield-by-election-matters-far-beyond-one-parliamentary-seat-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=1325","title":{"rendered":"Why UK\u2019s Makerfield by-election matters far beyond one parliamentary seat | Politics News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The small constituency of Makerfield in northwest England has found itself in the eye of the storm of British politics<\/a> with a by-election on Thursday that will not only produce a new member of parliament but could also pave the way for a new prime minister.<\/p>\n

The by-election was triggered last month when the previous MP, Josh Simons, stood down to allow Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to contest the seat. If Burnham wins, he intends to challenge UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the leadership of the ruling Labour Party.<\/p>\n

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Starmer is facing mounting pressure to step aside following dismal council election results last month and this week\u2019s resignation of Secretary of State for Defence John Healey and Armed Forces Minister Al Carns over the United Kingdom\u2019s defence budget.<\/p>\n

Seeking to derail Burham\u2019s hopes for the Labour leadership, however, is far-right Reform UK candidate Robert Kenyon, whose campaign has been dogged by controversy over alleged sexist and misogynistic social media posts but who remains within striking distance in the polls. Reform came second at the last election in Makerfield, however, and are seen as presenting a real challenge to Labour, which has held the seat since its creation in 1983.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a closer look at the race, why it matters and how its consequences could extend far beyond Makerfield.<\/p>\n

Why is a by-election happening in Makerfield?<\/h2>\n

Despite winning the 2024 general election in a landslide, Labour\u2019s popularity has tanked over the past two years as support for the far-right, anti-immigration Reform UK has soared. In council elections last month, Reform swept up hundreds of council seats<\/a> at Labour\u2019s expense. Overall, Labour lost nearly 1,500 local council seats while Reform surged from 100 to about 1,450 seats.<\/p>\n

On the right, Labour\u2019s rhetoric on immigration has failed to stem support for Reform UK, which continues to attract both former Conservative voters and sections of Labour\u2019s traditional working-class base \u2013 particularly in the north of England. On the left of the party, many voters who feel aggrieved by Starmer\u2019s stance on Israel and cuts to welfare have shifted towards the Green Party.<\/p>\n

Now, according to polling group Ipsos, Starmer is the most unpopular<\/a> prime minister since it began voter surveys in the late 1970s.<\/p>\n

As Labour\u2019s internal tensions have grown as a result, Burnham has consistently emerged as one of the party membership\u2019s preferred alternatives to Starmer<\/a>. Recent polling suggests Starmer would defeat most potential challengers in a leadership contest, with one notable exception: Burnham.<\/p>\n

As Mayor of Manchester, Burnham is not an MP and cannot currently stand for leadership of the Labour Party. Earlier this year, he was blocked from standing for Parliament via another by-election in Gorton and Denton, a seat Labour ultimately lost to the Green Party.<\/p>\n

As pressure on the prime minister has mounted, however, Labour\u2019s National Executive Committee has been increasingly unwilling to block Burnham from standing as an MP again.<\/p>\n

Announcing his resignation as Makerfield MP following the council elections, Simons said Labour was heading towards a divisive leadership contest with \u201cno hope, no energy that anything would change\u201d. He described Makerfield as \u201cwhere Andy Burnham has lived for 25 years\u201d and said the mayor was \u201ccoming home\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabour needs to change and the whole government needs to change,\u201d Simons added.<\/p>\n

Who is standing and what are they campaigning on?<\/h2>\n

Labour: Andy Burnham<\/h3>\n

Burnham currently serves as the highly popular Mayor of Greater Manchester, having left Westminster after previously serving in several cabinet positions under former Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.<\/p>\n

As mayor, Burnham<\/a> has built a reputation as one of Labour\u2019s most recognisable politicians, benefitting from his distance from Westminster while arguing that it could learn from what he calls \u201cManchesterism\u201d \u2013 a blend of pro-business policies designed to attract investment while bringing essential services back under public control.<\/p>\n

Known by some supporters as the \u201cKing of the North\u201d, Burnham gained national prominence for challenging the Conservative government during the COVID-19 pandemic and for his long-running campaign for justice for the victims of the Hillsborough disaster.<\/p>\n

His appeal to Labour\u2019s working-class base in the north of England has led some party members to view him as Labour\u2019s strongest candidate for winning back the so-called \u201cRed Wall\u201d \u2013 former industrial constituencies that have increasingly shifted towards Reform UK in the north of England.<\/p>\n

Political commentator and journalist Aaron Bastani told Al Jazeera that Burnham\u2019s personal reputation \u201cmakes a difference\u201d and that he represents Labour\u2019s best chance against Reform UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of Reform voters actually like him. Many people have a good word to say about him, and he\u2019s been a politician in the area for 25 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he added that, among some voters, he is still tarred by his \u201cassociation with Labour as the party of government\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Reform voters see Labour as the party that backed the Iraq war, and there\u2019s a deep sense of disillusionment with the political establishment \u2026 What\u2019s interesting is that some Reform voters were making left-wing criticisms of Burnham, such as the cuts to winter fuel payments and broader dissatisfaction with the government\u2019s direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reform UK: Robert Kenyon<\/h3>\n

Hoping to spoil Burnham\u2019s chances is Reform\u2019s Kenyon, affectionately referred to by some members of the UK media as \u201cthe plucky plumber\u201d in reference to his profession. He represents a party whose rapid rise and anti-immigrant message has transformed Britain\u2019s political landscape.<\/p>\n

Reform UK\u2019s rise has largely been driven by Nigel Farage, the architect of Brexit, whose party has capitalised on the collapse of support for the former ruling Conservative Party. Many big names from the Conservatives have defected to Reform in recent months. That has enabled Reform to attract both traditional right-wing voters and some former Labour supporters, largely on a platform that directs local grievances towards migration.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many voters, the proliferation of vape shops and takeaways on high streets has become a shorthand for a sense of decline,\u201d Bastani told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s often one of the first things people talk about when discussing immigration and changes to their local area. The concern isn\u2019t really about vape shops themselves \u2013 they\u2019re seen as visible symbols of a declining economic model, the loss of local identity and a feeling that places are deteriorating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bastani, however, described Kenyon as \u201cunimpressive\u201d. His campaign has been overshadowed by allegations relating to historic social media activity.<\/p>\n

Anti-extremism group HOPE not hate published posts attributed to Kenyon that included COVID-19 conspiracy theories, endorsements of sexualised comments about television presenter Carol Vorderman and remarks about female rugby players.<\/p>\n

The group also highlighted comments on an online forum in which Kenyon allegedly described himself as sexist and suggested women make false rape allegations to obtain abortions.<\/p>\n

Restore Britain: Rebecca Shepherd<\/h3>\n

Another factor is Restore Britain, a breakaway far-right party founded by former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe, who argues that Reform UK has become too mainstream and is no longer hard enough on combating undocumented immigration.<\/p>\n

Lowe, a former Reform member, was suspended by Reform UK in March 2025 after publicly criticising party leader Nigel Farage and was later expelled following a series of workplace bullying allegations and complaints from female staff members, which he denies.<\/p>\n

Since launching the new party less than four months ago, Restore Britain claims to have attracted more than 96,000 members and 13 councillors, many of them former Reform figures. Should a significant share of those voters ultimately switch from Reform UK, it could dent Reform\u2019s share of the vote<\/a> just enough to benefit Labour.<\/p>\n

Conservative: Michael Winstanley<\/h3>\n

Winstanley is the former mayor of Wigan, standing as candidate for the former ruling Conservative Party. He was elected as a councillor for the local ward of Orrell and 2000, and served for 16 years.<\/p>\n

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called Winstanley \u201can excellent champion of the area having lived in, worked in and represented the local community for years\u201d.<\/p>\n

Observers do not expect any great show of Conservative voters at this election, however. In May\u2019s local elections in Wigan, Labour won 42 seats, Reform 25, and the Conservatives got none. And, in the last general election in Makerfield, the Tories came in third \u2013 behind Labour and Reform \u2013 with just over 10 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n

What do the polls say about the candidates?<\/h2>\n

Polling suggests the contest is effectively a two-horse race between Labour and Reform UK. The largest survey of the campaign, conducted by Opinium for Forward Democracy, indicates Burnham holds a narrow lead.<\/p>\n

Based on a mixed-method survey of 543 local residents, Burnham leads Kenyon by five percentage points among voters most likely to cast a ballot. Among those rating themselves at least seven out of 10 likely to vote, Burnham stands on 46 percent compared with Kenyon\u2019s 41 percent.<\/p>\n

However, Kenyon\u2019s share may have been damaged by the 7 percent that Shepherd is expected to win in Restore Britain\u2019s first parliamentary outing. The Conservatives are polling at just 2 percent.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, while Labour currently leads in the by-election campaign, the constituency\u2019s longer-term political trajectory may ultimately favour Reform UK. When respondents were asked how they would vote in a future general election, Reform UK led with 42 percent compared with Labour\u2019s 34 percent, suggesting that Burnham\u2019s personal appeal may be helping Labour outperform its own national reputation.<\/p>\n

In May, Labour lost all eight of its local council seats in Makerfield to Reform.<\/p>\n

Tom de Grunwald, founder of Forward Democracy and StopReformUK.Vote, said tactical voting could prove decisive. \u201cIf you live in Makerfield and you would normally vote Green, Liberal Democrat, or anyone else, and you don\u2019t want Reform UK to win this seat, the maths is clear: Andy Burnham is the only candidate who can stop them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, Bastani said he is sceptical that many Restore Britain supporters will ultimately return to Reform UK. \u201cA lot of those voters now see Farage as part of the establishment,\u201d he said, adding that Restore Britain could outperform expectations on polling day \u2013 which could split the far-right vote and benefit Burnham. While he expects Burnham to win, Bastani said the result should not obscure the rise of Reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be surprised if Burnham didn\u2019t win. But if Reform were running a stronger candidate, this could look very different. If Farage somehow managed to win a seat like this against someone with Burnham\u2019s profile, it would rank among the most significant political achievements of his career.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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The small constituency of Makerfield in northwest England has found itself in the eye of the storm of British politics with a by-election on Thursday that will not only produce a new member of parliament but could also pave the way for a new prime minister. The by-election was triggered last month when the previous…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international-news","8":"category-news"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}