Nigel Farage has admitted he is “disappointed” after Reform UK finished second in the Makerfield by-election, more than 9,000 votes behind Labour’s Andy Burnham. In a video clip posted online, the Reform leader blamed the emphatic defeat on a desire among voters to eject Sir Keir Starmer from Downing Street. “In many ways, he’s a popular local mayor,” Farage said of Burnham, drawing a comparison with Boris Johnson’s tenure as London mayor. “But what really happened here is it was ‘vote Burnham, get Starmer out’.”
Burnham increased Labour’s majority over Reform in the constituency, a rare feat for a candidate from the governing party, and is now expected to challenge Starmer for the Labour leadership. The seat, held by Labour for over a century, saw turnout rise to nearly 59 per cent – more than six points higher than the 2024 general election. Despite the high turnout, often seen as benefiting the radical right, Burnham won comfortably.
“Nigel Farage conceded Reform UK's second-place finish in Makerfield as voters backed Andy Burnham to oust Keir Starmer.”
Farage conceded that Reform had also lost votes to the right-wing Restore Britain party, founded by ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe, which finished third. He issued a direct plea to Restore voters: “We are the challenger party to the left in this country. And I would urge you to think again, I really, really would.” He expressed frustration with Restore, which promised “the most ambitious programme of mass deportations ever seen in Britain”, and acknowledged he had expected 18,000 votes for his own candidate, Rob Kenyon, a self-employed plumber and councillor, but got “just shy of 16”.
Farage framed the result as “vote Burnham, get Starmer out”, but noted Reform had been “slightly hoist with our own petard”, having previously encouraged voters to treat elections as a chance to end Starmer’s premiership. Some commentators, however, suggested the result reflected a backlash against Farage himself. The New Statesman noted that “many hate unabashed misogyny and Nigel Farage, too”, and that Reform’s poll share has drifted from around 31 per cent last autumn to perhaps 27 per cent now. This is not the first by-election where the party underperformed media expectations, with similar outcomes in Hamilton and Caerphilly, and an anti-Reform coalition coalescing behind the most viable opponent in Gorton and Denton.
Farage’s party remains a favourite for the next general election, but the New Statesman argued it is “less thanks to genuine enthusiasm than to disdain for the incumbents”. The party’s habit of picking candidates like Kenyon or Matt Goodwin, it said, “seems enough to make many think twice”. For now, Burnham’s victory has handed Labour a rare by-election gain, while leaving Starmer’s position increasingly precarious.