Everton season ticket holder Andy Burnham wins Makerfield by-election, paving the way for a challenge to Sir Kier Starmer’s moribund Premiership at No 10 Downing Steet.
It was a strong victory for the former Manchester mayor who beat reform into second place with a substantial majority, taking 55% of the vote. And it paves the way for a challenge to the leadership of the Labour party that would see Evertonian Burnham become the next Prime Minister.
“Everyone knows that politics isn’t working,” Burnham said in his acceptance speech.
“Everyon can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point. From here on in, I will give everything I have got to make it so. To ensure the name Makerfield is forever synonymous with bringing about the change this country needs. Bringing back something we’ve lost, hope. Hope for the future.
“I do say to my own party, this is a final chance to change. This is what people said directly to me, on hundreds of doorsteps that I stood on. We must hear it, we must act upon it, and we must get it right. There will be no second chance.”
Burnham was announced as the new Labour MP for Makerfield with more than 20 points than Reform opponent Robert Kenyon. The seat had swung in Reform’s favour last month in local elections, but has now swung back emphatically to Labour.
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