Just after 3am in a hot, crowded events venue across the canal from Wigan Pier, Andy Burnham took his place between a man dressed as a bin and another dressed as a fox as the 14 candidates lined up on stage. Moments later, the outgoing Greater Manchester mayor was declared the new MP for Makerfield with 24,937 votes – 55 per cent of the vote, and a majority of 9,231 over Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon, who scored 15,696. Turnout was 59 per cent, six points up on the general election, with 45,510 votes cast. Burnham’s majority was larger than Labour’s 2024 general election landslide in the seat. The result, which cleared a major obstacle on his path to No 10, triggered an immediate intensification of calls for Sir Keir Starmer to stand aside. “This is a final chance to change,” Burnham told supporters at the count. “Everyone knows that politics isn’t working. Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be a turning point.”
Burnham’s victory was built on a coalition of voters from across the political spectrum. The veteran pollster Peter Kellner noted that the Liberal Democrat and Green candidates, who won 11 per cent of the Makerfield vote two years ago, won just 1 per cent in the by‑election – “setting new records for vote-shedding while they helped to ensure that Burnham beat Kenyon”. At Orrell waterpark, three friends – Mal, 64, Peta, 48, and Barb, 64 – said they normally backed the Greens but had voted for Burnham as the best chance of defeating the “divisive” politics of the right. “I’m not a Labour fan but I like Burnham,” said Joseph, 50, a heavy goods driver who had voted for Reform in 2024. Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice told BBC Breakfast that his party did not win because people “had voted Burnham to guarantee that the prime minister is ousted”.
“Andy Burnham wins Makerfield by-election with 54.8% vote, majority 9,231, intensifying Labour leadership challenge to Keir Starmer.”
At a victory rally on Friday morning, Burnham was joined by several Labour MPs. Louise Haigh, the former Transport Secretary, said the mayor “could hardly have found a more difficult seat to challenge”. But the Prime Minister, speaking to broadcasters, insisted his government was delivering on its “very considerable mandate for change” and said he would stand in any leadership contest. “I’m not going to walk away,” he said. He argued recent by‑election results suggested “the tide is turning on Reform” – that “they’ve reached probably the peak of their support, it’s going down”. In a call with Labour staff, he warned a contest could end up “tearing apart our party and our movement”. Meanwhile Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander urged the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his departure in a private conversation. Baroness Harriet Harman warned the party against “being paralysed by its leadership issue” and said ministers could not be left “in a state of paralysis all through the summer”.
Burnham, who said the Makerfield constituency “will never be a stepping stone to me but instead will be my touchstone”, now faces a swift decision on whether to trigger a formal challenge. His allies speak of an “orderly transition” as the preferred option. But with Starmer vowing not to walk away, the road from Wigan Pier to Number 10 may yet require a bruising contest.