Andy Burnham swept to victory in a by-election that could send him to Downing Street as Britain's next prime minister.
He said the Labour Party had a “final chance to change” after his decisive win in Makerfield , setting up a showdown with Keir Starmer. Polls show Mr Burnham, 56, is Labour's most popular politician who would win a leadership contest decided by party members.
Allies of Mr Burnham called on the Prime Minister to hand over power after the "King of the North" defied national trends to increase Labour’s share of the vote in a seat where Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party made sweeping gains in last month’s local elections. Reform was expected to pose a serious challenge to Mr Burnham but could not repeat its nationwide successes.
In what could be the most consequential local election in decades, Mr Burnham defeated Reform’s Robert Kenyon by 9,231 votes, up from a majority of 5,399 that Labour secured in 2024. The party's vote share increased by 9.61 per cent.
Mr Starmer, who has insisted he will not step down and plans to fight any leadership challenge, congratulated Mr Burnham on his win, saying “voters chose Labour’s campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate”.
At the G7 summit in France this week, he said he wanted Mr Burnham to play a "big part" in government .
Mr Burnham's victory means he will now be able to trigger or take part in a contest to replace Mr Starmer, struggling with some of the worst popularity ratings of any leader. But the key question is when and how Mr Burnham will do it.
Mr Starmer may have only days to consider whether to resign and allow a “coronation” or face a potential cabinet revolt. To trigger a leadership contest, Mr Burnham – who has twice unsuccessfully stood for the leadership – would need the support of 81 MPs, which he has already privately secured.
In his victory speech Mr Burnham, who served as a minister in the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown governments, urged his party to act now, saying there would be no second chance. “Everyone knows that politics isn’t working," he said. “Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point.”
In a direct message to Labour MPs, he said: “I do say to my own party: this is a final chance to change. This is what people said directly to me on the 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.”
Andy Burnham leaves The Edge, where votes were being counted., with his daughter and wife. Getty Images Info
Investors were closely watching the race given concerns that Mr Burnham, if he becomes leader, might shift to a looser fiscal policy than Mr Starmer and his chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves. Although Mr Burnham has said that his remarks last year about the country being “in hock” to bond markets were taken out of context, they continue to resonate with investors.
The pound was little changed against the dollar, trading around $1.3195 in the immediate aftermath of the result.
Mr Burnham gave up his role of Greater Manchester mayor by becoming the Makerfield MP , winning the seat vacated by Josh Simons to allow him the chance to return to Westminster and seek to become prime minister.
In an attempt at addressing the assertion that he only stood in the by-election to further his own ambitions, he said: “It will never be a stepping stone to me, but instead will be my touchstone. A Makerfield test at the heart of British politics will make sure that the places Westminster has neglected will now get fairness.”
Newly elected Makerfield MP Andy Burnham greets a supporter after his by-election victory. Reuters Info
Decisive win
Mr Burnham won more than half of all votes cast, comfortably beating the combined total for second and third place parties Reform and Restore Britain. He won 54.8 per cent of the votes cast, outperforming all the opinion polls published during the campaign, none of which placed him above 50 per cent.
Mr Kenyon won 34.5 per cent of the vote, while Restore’s Rebecca Shepherd won 6.8 per cent. She was the only other candidate to get more than 5 per cent of the votes cast – the threshold needed to avoid losing the £500 ($658) deposit that all candidates have to pay to stand for election to parliament in the UK.
The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Greens, along with eight other candidates, all got less than 5 per cent of the vote and lost their deposit.
Turnout was 58.75 per cent, the highest for a parliamentary by-election in nearly seven years.
Mr Farage said he was “disappointed” with the party’s vote share and urged people who voted for Restore Britain to “think again”.
Cabinet minister Lisa Nandy said she wanted Mr Burnham “back at the top table”. She added: “What Andy’s 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 an…
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