How Left-wing is Makerfield? Inside the Right’s shock rise | Firsthand

Two years ago, Makerfield was considered such a safe Labour seat that a Cambridge-educated policy wonk, parachuted in from London, won a comfortable 5,000-seat majority.

But the resignation of Josh Simons halfway through his term to allow Andy Burnham a path back to Westminster has exposed deep cracks between Labour and its traditional working class voters.

In last month’s local elections, Reform UK won 24 of the 25 seats contested on Wigan council, including every ward in the Makerfield constituency.

An area where generation upon generation has voted for Labour has suddenly stopped doing so.

Instead voters’ heads have been turned from Left to Right, with Mr Burnham’s nearest challenges coming from Reform UK and Restore Britain.

While the Mayor of Greater Manchester has led in every poll throughout the campaign, that doesn’t tell the full story. In five of the eight constituency surveys carried out, the combined Right-wing vote of Reform and Restore would defeat him.

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/#source=refresh

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