{"id":595991,"date":"2026-05-21T10:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/595991\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T10:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:28:10","slug":"greens-select-nurse-and-committed-local-campaigner-as-makerfield-byelection-candidate-makerfield-byelection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/595991\/","title":{"rendered":"Greens select nurse and \u2018committed local campaigner\u2019 as Makerfield byelection candidate | Makerfield byelection"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Green party has chosen \u201ca committed local campaigner\u201d as its candidate in the Makerfield byelection<\/a> on 18 June.<\/p>\n

Chris Kennedy, a nurse and children\u2019s safeguarding specialist, was chosen after a hustings on Wednesday amid reports that the party was proposing to hold back from investing significant resources in the byelection.<\/p>\n

The Financial Times reported<\/a> that party members were wary of being blamed for splitting the progressive vote and allowing Reform to win. Because of that, senior party figures wanted to help clear the path for Labour\u2019s Andy Burnham.<\/p>\n

One senior party figure told the FT: \u201cWe do not want this one to go to Reform, and to be quite frank, we do not want Labour<\/a> to turn around and say, \u2018If you vote Green, you\u2019re actually voting Reform\u2019, because that will be used for the next three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

It follows a report in the Guardian<\/a> that revealed the Greens were locked in a \u201cvery civilised\u201d internal debate about how to challenge Burnham.<\/p>\n

One senior Green said: \u201cThe debate is what the campaign would look like. There is a world of difference between turning up to the hustings with a bit of leafleting, and what we saw in [the] Gorton and Denton [byelection, which the Green party<\/a> won].\u201d They said \u201cthrowing everything at it\u201d would be a national-level decision for the party, which covers England and Wales.<\/p>\n

The Financial Times reported that senior Green party figures wanted to help clear the path for Labour\u2019s Andy Burnham. Photograph: Ryan Jenkinson\/Getty<\/p>\n

Kennedy was described as a \u201cfantastic candidate\u201d by the Green party leader, Zack Polanski<\/a>, who said the byelection was about \u201cwho is making the case for lower bills, warmer and more affordable homes and a greener and fairer economy\u201d.<\/p>\n

But Polanski added: \u201cWe will also use the byelection to press Andy Burnham<\/a> on what kind of MP and prime minister he would be, given his mixed track record and interviews this week suggesting he isn\u2019t committed to fair voting, public ownership and a genuinely new economic settlement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like to know which version of Andy Burnham is going to show up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy said he was proud to be chosen. \u201cWe want to defend our area against the politics of hate and division and bring people together around a positive vision for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, we can\u2019t let this election be dominated by a Westminster psychodrama,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kennedy was chosen by local party members. According to the Times<\/a>, the frontrunner had been Hayley Pierce, a portrait artist, but her prospects may have been damaged by social media posts which the newspaper published.<\/p>\n

If Burnham wins the byelection he is expected to challenge Keir Starmer as prime minister.<\/p>\n

Reform has named Robert Kenyon, a plumber, as its candidate, while the Conservatives have chosen Michael Winstanley, a former mayor of Wigan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Green party has chosen \u201ca committed local campaigner\u201d as its candidate in the Makerfield byelection on 18…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-595991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}