Tricky election test for Andy Burnham before he can challenge British PM Keir Starmer
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Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham must return to Parliament via a by-election before he can challenge unpopular Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the top job.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham plans to contest a Makerfield by-election. If successful, this parliamentary return could be a first step to challenge Keir Starmer for Labour leadership.
- Burnham faces strong opposition in Makerfield, a traditional Labour seat. Voters are disillusioned, and Nigel Farage's Reform UK is "throwing everything" at defeating Labour.
- Local Ashton-in-Makerfield voters are split. Some back Burnham over Starmer, viewing him as a better leader, while others are keen for change and favour Reform UK.
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ASHTON-IN-MAKERFIELD, England – For many in Labour, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is their best hope to turn around the governing party’s fortunes. But before he can challenge British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he must return to Parliament, and that is not straightforward.
Mr Burnham will try to run in and win a so-called by-election in Makerfield, in the north-western region where he has been a popular mayor since 2017 – a bid Mr Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK will do its best to thwart.
Hoping his local appeal will boost his attempt to clear the first hurdle to any bid to challenge Mr Starmer for the leadership, Mr Burnham will try to buck a trend felt across the country when voters rejected Labour in local elections last week.
On the streets of Ashton-in-Makerfield, a former mining town in the constituency where many struggled after the closure of the coal pits, voters were split between Mr Burnham and Mr Farage’s Reform.
Burnham ‘the right man for the job’
Mr Anthony McCormack, a former miner who retrained as a welder and is now retired, said he would back Mr Burnham because he is the “right man for the job” and would “100 per cent” make a better prime minister than Mr Starmer.
“The man is not a politician, he’s middle management,” Mr McCormack said of the Prime Minister.
Labour voter Alan Birch, who is retired, said he would also rather “get Andy in and see what goes from there”, adding that under Mr Starmer, things were “going downhill”.
Mr Starmer is under pressure from dozens of his own lawmakers to set a timetable for his departure after the election losses, and the by-election is yet another twist to a political drama that has sent markets spiralling.
Mr Burnham was an MP before becoming Manchester mayor, serving as a minister in then Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government and running unsuccessfully for the party leadership in 2010 and 2015.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (second from left) visiting a primary school in April 2026 in Greater Manchester with the region’s mayor, Mr Andy Burnham (third from left).
PHOTO: REUTERS
He is not yet formally Labour’s candidate for the Makerfield seat but, unlike a previous bid for a parliamentary return earlier in 2026, the Labour leadership is not expected to block him from entering the race.
Reform has yet to name a candidate.
Labour has represented the area in Parliament since 1906, but with the party in crisis and Reform winning all the council seats that were contested in the constituency last week, Mr Burnham’s return is far from a foregone conclusion.
Polls show Mr Starmer is deeply unpopular after a series of U-turns as he struggled to deliver the growth and stability he promised.
Reform leader Farage told broadcaster GB News he would “throw absolutely everything” at the by-election in a bid to defeat Labour.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage (centre) has pledged to “throw absolutely everything” at the by-election in a bid to defeat Labour in the seat.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Ms Rachael Hulse, an aesthetics nurse, said her family had always voted Labour “but now, that’s completely changed”.
“Labour doesn’t really have that much of a good (reputation) any more,” she said, adding that she hoped Reform would win the seat.
“It just needs a change, because we seem to be just stuck in the same rut.”
Mr Burnham’s pitch to voters is that he can lift Labour out of that rut, saying people in Makerfield “have long supported our party but lost faith in recent times”.
“We will change Labour for the better and make it a party you can believe in again,” he said when he announced his intention to stand in the seat on May 14.
But pensioner Ann Garner questioned whether it was the right time for a leadership contest.
“I think Keir Starmer should be given a chance,” she said. “We really need to get the country sorted.” REUTERS
