Andy Burnham confirmed as Labour candidate in crucial Makerfield by-election

The by-election, which is likely to take place on June 18, was triggered after ex-minister Josh Simons quit as an MP to make way for Mr Burnham’s Westminster comeback

Andy Burnham has been confirmed as Labour’s candidate in next month’s make-or-break Makerfield by-election.

It came as the Greater Manchester Mayor’s candidacy was rubber-stamped by the party’s governing body, the National Executive Committee (NEC). The by-election, which is likely to take place on June 18, was triggered after ex-minister Josh Simons quit as an MP to make way for Mr Burnham’s Westminster comeback.

Mr Burnham, who is expected to challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership if he wins, said was “humbled” to have been selected. He said: “These proud working-class communities represent the very best values of our country and they deserve so much better. It would be my honour to work for them every day, if elected as their MP, to achieve that.

“Many people here feel Westminster isn’t working for them and they are right. I am standing to change that and get the voice of these communities heard loud and clear. I am glad that this by-election has finally put the places that make up the Makerfield constituency into the national spotlight. They have been neglected by national politics for too long. It is a good thing that all political parties are now on the hook to tell the voters here what they are going to do for them.

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This week Mr Burnham also said the by-election was the “most consequential of our lives” and used a slick campaign video to set out his vision, after sayng his attempt to win the Makerfield by-election was motivated by the need to “change Labour”.

It is understood the Greater Manchester Mayor was the only person shortlisted by the NEC – by-passing the need for a vote on a candidate by the local party. In February, Mr Starmer and the party’s NEC blocked a previous bid by the Greater Manchester Mayor to stand for Parliament as he attempted to run in Gorton and Denton.

But with the Prime Minister’s authority left in tatters after a week of civil war in the party’s ranks, he dropped his opposition to Mr Burnham’s candidacy last week.

Reform UK also announced its candidate would be plumber Robert Kenyon, who ran for the party in the seat at the 2024 general election and finished in second place.

The Prime Minister, whose leadership was pushed to the brink last week, has made clear he will not walk away from Downing Street, despite calls to resign. He gathered his Cabinet on Tuesday for the first time since ex-Health Secretary Wes Streeting quit the government and made clear he would run in any leadership contest.

Speaking on Tuesday, Luke Tryl, the UK director of More in Common, said the North West seat of Makerfield should be a “tailor-made for Reform to do well in” with two-thirds in the constituency voting to Leave at the Brexit referendum in 2016 and the right-wing party’s recent victories in the area the local elections.

But he added: “That said you have to balance that against what I’ve basically described as the Andy Burnham factor… people in an era of change see him as being anti-Westminster. They see him as being outside of the system.

“Imagery is really important. Lots of people still talk about that time he found about Manchester’s new [Covid] tier while he was on national TV on his phone. That resonates. We think there is about a 20-point Burnham boost in the polls and so when you model it you start out with Burnham as a very narrow favourite but the campaign could matter a lot.”