{"id":47022,"date":"2026-05-24T01:06:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T01:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/47022\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T01:06:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T01:06:35","slug":"makerfield-voters-give-verdict-as-burnham-launches-campaign-hes-a-local-lad-i-just-think-hell-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/47022\/","title":{"rendered":"Makerfield voters give verdict as Burnham launches campaign – ‘He’s a local lad – I just think he’ll win’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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’<\/p>\n

07:46, 23 May 2026Updated 16:00, 23 May 2026<\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham launching his Makerfield by-election campaign on Friday(Image: AP Photo\/Ian Hodgson)<\/p>\n

Retired teacher Alison Myler is yet to make up her mind on how to cast her vote in next month\u2019s Makerfield by-election – but Andy Burnham<\/a> comes highly rated.<\/p>\n

One of the 64-year-old\u2019s friends taught the young Burnham at a local high school. \u201cShe speaks very highly of him,\u201d she told The Mirror<\/a> in the blazing sun on Gerard Street in Ashton-in-Makerfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said he was a very diligent student, well behaved and had a good family – so that\u2019s a good a recommendation as any.\u201d It\u2019s a story that immediately blunts Reform\u2019s attempts to cast the Greater Manchester<\/a> Mayor as an outsider, willing to stand in any seat to fulfil his Westminster comeback.<\/p>\n

Pensioner Marge Glover, 77, who was doing her shopping on the high street, said: \u201cI\u2019m voting Labour<\/a> – for Andy Burnham. I\u2019ve 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\u2019ll do a cracking job here.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Andy Burnham vows to ‘change Labour’ in by-election pitch – and blasts ‘tired’ politics<\/a>READ MORE: Wes Streeting pledges to bring back Sure Start funded by wealth tax in leadership pitch<\/a><\/p>\n

But does she believe he will win the by-election as Nigel Farage<\/a>\u2019s Reform throws the kitchen sink at the constituency in the hope of delivering a major political upset? I do, I hope so anyway,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s a local lad, he lives just down the road and we know him. I just think he will win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Retired<\/p>\n

Retired teacher Alison Myler tells The Mirror her friend taught Andy Burnham in high school
\n(Image: Andy Stenning\/Daily Mirror)<\/p>\n

Retired local government officer and life-long Labour voter Christine Charnock-Jones, said: \u201cI\u2019m going to vote for Andy Burnham because he\u2019s quite loyal to this area. I\u2019ve worked with Andy Burnham in the past, he\u2019s a top bloke. I just don\u2019t think there\u2019s anybody else for this by-election to be honest.\u201d But she added: \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a two-horse race. I think it\u2019s going to be very close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others aren\u2019t convinced. Andrew Sutherly, 56, who works in complaints, said he is yet to make up his mind but will be voting. Just \u201cdefinitely not\u201d for Labour, he said, blaming the party\u2019s decision to impose VAT on independent schools.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

\"Marge<\/p>\n

Marge Glover, 77, said: ‘I think Andy Burnham has done a cracking job as Mayor of Greater Manchester, and I think he\u2019ll do a cracking job here’<\/p>\n

(Image: Andy Stenning\/Daily Mirror)<\/p>\n

The residents spoke to The Mirror as Mr Burnham officially launched his campaign outside Stubshaw Cross Community and Sports Club on Friday. \u201cHope is in the air, can you feel it?\u201d 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\u2019s MP in order to clear the way for Mr Burnham\u2019s comeback.<\/p>\n

It’s clear the stakes could not be higher for Burnham – or the Labour Party<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> in Downing Street. Victory in the Brexit<\/a> voting constituency would give weary Labour MPs – after the local elections drubbing a fortnight ago – hope that it is possible to defeat Reform.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Green Party candidate quits Makerfield by-election over false social media posts about Jewish ambulance attack<\/a><\/p>\n

But if the \u2018King of the North\u2019 is defeated on his own turf and Labour\u2019s 5,399 majority is wiped out, expect perhaps even greater chaos in Labour\u2019s 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\u2019s hopes of becoming Prime Minister will also become a distant memory.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Resident spoke to The Mirror as Andy Burnham officially launched his by-election campaign outside Stubshaw Cross Community and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7786,9362,31,95,14,75,5,6],"class_list":["post-47022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-andy-burnham","tag-cabinet","tag-labour-party","tag-nigel-farage","tag-politics","tag-secondary-school","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116626874863673433","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}