Polls close in Makerfield byelection as Andy Burnham eyes No 10

Polls have closed in Makerfield, Aberdeen South, and Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, with the result in the north-west of England constituency byelection poised to decide the future of UK politics. The population of Makerfield , a constituency sitting just outside Wigan, has found itself at the centre of the British political world in recent weeks after Andy Burnham quit as mayor of Greater Manchester to contest the seat that he hoped would lead him not only to Westminster, but to the front door of 10 Downing Street. The approximately 70,000 voters have been bombarded by politicians, journalists and campaigners, as a tight race between the Labour candidate and Reform’s Robert Kenyon approached the finishing line, with estimates that up to 3,000 Labour campaigners had arrived in Makerfield in recent days. The race kicked off on 14 May, after the MP Josh Simons announced he would be standing down in order to allow the former cabinet minister to return to Westminster to challenge Keir Starmer, after Labour’s crushing local election results. It has been a head-to-head contest between the former culture secretary and Kenyon, a local plumber who has encountered headwinds after lacklustre public-facing performances and revelations about past social – media posts, which included posts relating to Carol Vorderman, which she described as “disgusting”, as well as other sexist and otherwise lewd comments. …