Andy Burnham wins Makerfield byelection, paving way for Starmer leadership challenge

Andy Burnham has won the crucial Makerfield byelection by a huge majority, paving the way for a challenge to Keir Starmer’s premiership. The Greater Manchester mayor beat the Reform UK candidate, Robert Kenyon, by 9,231 votes, and the new hardline Restore Britain party. Labour won 54% of the vote to Reform UK’s 35%, while Restore Britain secured 7%. Turnout was 58.75% – six points up on the general election, with 45,510 votes cast. In his victory speech, Burnham said the result “could be a turning point” and that people had “voted for change, they have voted for more power for the north and everywhere forgotten by Westminster”. He said this was Labour’s “final chance to change,” adding: “There will be no second chance but it is a chance now from this result tonight to build a new politics based on unity and hope, turning away from the path that takes us to a divided politics of the kind we see in the United States. “We must now take this up and put this country back on the right path and bring people back together and get things working properly.” After the most consequential byelection in modern British history, Burnham is widely expected to mount a bid for No 10 if a formal leadership contest is triggered in the coming days. …