{"id":646531,"date":"2026-06-19T03:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T03:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/646531\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T03:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T03:46:09","slug":"andy-burnham-wins-huge-majority-in-makerfield-byelection-paving-way-for-starmer-leadership-challenge-makerfield-byelection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/646531\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham wins huge majority in Makerfield byelection, paving way for Starmer leadership challenge | Makerfield byelection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Burnham has won the crucial Makerfield byelection<\/a> by a huge majority, paving the way for a challenge to Keir Starmer\u2019s premiership.<\/p>\n

The Greater Manchester<\/a> mayor beat the Reform UK candidate, Robert Kenyon, by 9,231 votes, and the new hardline Restore Britain party coming a distant third..<\/p>\n

Labour won 54% of the vote to Reform UK\u2019s 35%, while Restore Britain secured 7%. Turnout was 58.75% \u2013 six points up on the general election, with 45,510 votes cast.<\/p>\n

In his victory speech, Burnham said the result \u201ccould be a turning point\u201d and that people had \u201cvoted for change, they have voted for more power for the north and everywhere forgotten by Westminster\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said this was Labour\u2019s \u201cfinal chance to change,\u201d adding: \u201cThere 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must now take this up and put this country back on the right path and bring people back together and get things working properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

However, his allies believe Starmer should be given time to set out a timetable for his departure, the Guardian revealed<\/a> on Thursday, with some in his team having talked ministers out of resigning as soon as this weekend to stop the government falling into chaos.<\/p>\n

The fact that Burnham secured 6,100 more votes than both Reform and Restore combined will hugely burnish his credentials for No 10 among Labour MPs and members.<\/p>\n

The former health secretary appears to have won the support of an anti-Reform coalition of voters from across the spectrum, with the Conservatives, Lib Dems and Greens winning only 3% of the vote between them. In 2024, the three parties collectively won 22% of the vote in this constituency.<\/p>\n

The \u201cKing of the North\u201d, who was first elected to parliament almost exactly 25 years ago and served in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, will return to Westminster nine years after he left.<\/p>\n

Speaking before hundreds of members of the media and supporters, who cheered him into the Life convention centre in Wigan, Burnham said Makerfield would \u201cnever be a stepping stone to me \u2013 but instead will be my touchstone: A Makerfield test at the heart of British politics will ensure the places that Westminster has neglected will now get fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voters had told him they felt \u201cneglected\u201d and that \u201cthe country works for other people and other places but not for here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Burnham added: \u201cThat changes tonight. This result changes that. This result will bring about a country that works fairly for everyone. People here have voted for change, they have voted for more power for the north and everywhere forgotten by Westminster. Now let\u2019s give that back to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

His win means Labour faces another gruelling contest against Reform UK, this time to retain the Greater Manchester mayoralty. The byelection of 2 million voters will be one of the biggest in British political history, and is expected to be held on 30 July.<\/p>\n

The Makerfield byelection was triggered when Josh Simons<\/a>, the then Labour MP, agreed to stand down<\/a> last month to allow Burnham to contest the seat and mount a challenge to Starmer\u2019s ailing leadership.<\/p>\n

The prime minister has faced calls for his resignation over the disastrous appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, followed by elections in which Labour lost more than 1,200 local councillors and control of the Welsh Senedd in May.<\/p>\n

Hours before voting opened, Burnham said the outcome of the byelection would change British politics for years to come.<\/p>\n

Burnham said his offer would \u201cmake life more affordable to people again, to give the British people a bit more money in their pockets, to give people a bit more breathing space in their daily lives\u201d. He said the result would be a \u201cvote to power up the north of England\u201d.<\/p>\n

Starmer has said he will not walk away from his post and that he intends to fight any challenge.<\/p>\n

The prime minister is also facing a looming threat from his former health secretary Wes Streeting, who has indicated he is prepared to trigger a Labour leadership contest as early as next week.<\/p>\n

Cabinet minister Lisa Nandy described the victory as \u201chistory in the making\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Andy\u2019s shown here is that there is something that he brings, a willingness to go out and fight for the change that people need, to take on any system and any person who stands in the way and to be bold and to wear his heart on his sleeve, and people have responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that with him back in the top team, at the top table, helping to drive that change, I think we\u2019ll be in a really strong position.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham has won the crucial Makerfield byelection by a huge majority, paving the way for a challenge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-646531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646531","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=646531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}