Makerfield voters give verdict as Burnham launches marketing campaign – ‘He’s an area lad – I simply suppose he’ll win’

On May 23, 2026

Resident spoke to The Mirror as Andy Burnham officially launched his by-election campaign outside Stubshaw Cross Community and Sports Club, declaring: ‘Hope is in the air’

07:46, 23 May 2026Updated 07:47, 23 May 2026

Retired teacher Alison Myler is yet to make up her mind on how to cast her vote in next month’s Makerfield by-election – but Andy Burnham comes highly rated.

One of the 64-year-old’s friends taught the young Burnham at a local high school. “She speaks very highly of him,” she told The Mirror in the blazing sun on Gerard Street in Ashton-in-Makerfield.

“She said he was a very diligent student, well behaved and had a good family – so that’s a good a recommendation as any.” It’s a story that immediately blunts Reform’s attempts to cast the Greater Manchester Mayor as an outsider, willing to stand in any seat to fulfil his Westminster comeback.

Pensioner Marge Glover, 77, who was doing her shopping on the high street, said: “I’m voting Labour – for Andy Burnham. I’ve always voted Labour and my roots are Labour. And I think Andy Burnham has done a cracking job as Mayor of Greater Manchester, and I think he’ll do a cracking job here.”

But does she believe he will win the by-election as Nigel Farage’s Reform throws the kitchen sink at the constituency in the hope of delivering a major political upset? I do, I hope so anyway,” she said. “He’s a local lad, he lives just down the road and we know him. I just think he will win.”

Retired local government officer and life-long Labour voter Christine Charnock-Jones, said: “I’m going to vote for Andy Burnham because he’s quite loyal to this area. I’ve worked with Andy Burnham in the past, he’s a top bloke. I just don’t think there’s anybody else for this by-election to be honest.” But she added: “I think it’s going to be a two-horse race. I think it’s going to be very close.”

Others aren’t convinced. Andrew Sutherly, 56, who works in complaints, said he is yet to make up his mind but will be voting. Just “definitely not” for Labour, he said, blaming the party’s decision to impose VAT on independent schools.

“I don’t think it matters either way because whoever gets in will get in, we’re only a small part of the cog across the country,” he said while criticising the cost to taxpayers for the by-election and of a Greater Manchester mayoral race if Mr Burnham wins.

The residents spoke to The Mirror as Mr Burnham officially launched his campaign outside Stubshaw Cross Community and Sports Club on Friday. “Hope is in the air, can you feel it?” he said in a stump speech to dozens of supporters, party activists and Labour MPs. They included former Cabinet minister Louise Haigh, the government chief whip and Greater Manchester MP Jonathan Reynolds, and Josh Simons, who last week resigned as Makerfield’s MP in order to clear the way for Mr Burnham’s comeback.

It’s clear the stakes could not be higher for Burnham – or the Labour Party.

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If Labour maintains its grip on the seat it has held since 1983, the Greater Manchester Mayor is expected to launch a bid to replace Keir Starmer in Downing Street. Victory in the Brexit voting constituency would give weary Labour MPs – after the local elections drubbing a fortnight ago – hope that it is possible to defeat Reform.

But if the ‘King of the North’ is defeated on his own turf and Labour’s 5,399 majority is wiped out, expect perhaps even greater chaos in Labour’s ranks. Labour MPs – starting into the abyss of more electoral pain – may still go over the edge and trigger a leadership challenge with no clear candidate to unite around. Mr Burnham’s hopes of becoming Prime Minister will also become a distant memory.

The voters of Makerfield will give their verdict in a little under four weeks in one of the most consequential by-elections for a generation.