On the surface Andy Burnham’s victory in Makerfield is unremarkable, if anything the 20% gap over second-placed Reform is a shining example of how Labour has significant swathes of support in the constituencies where historically the Labour vote had to be weighed rather than counted. Makerfield, an ex-mining, working class seat that has voted Labour since 1906 saw 35% of its electorate vote for a right-wing party. The result seemingly represents the phenomenon that has been o

The parliamentary theatre that played out on the stage of Westminster last week, the kind this country has become so used to in recent years, has resulted in a strange and uniquely British political situation. The future direction of the government, the Prime Minister, the Labour Party and the country will depend on the votes of some 80,000 people in the suburbs of Wigan and its neighbouring towns. A by-election in the constituency of Makerfield should be a shoe in for the L

The epithet “they are all as bad as each other” has increasingly become a mantra up and down the country, much to the dismay of canvassers and candidates alike. Green, Tory, Labour, and Reform voters may individually have starkly disparate grievances, but most seem to feel that politics and politicians don’t seem to work for them. If one word were to sum up the national mood, it would undoubtedly be apathy. It is apathy that has led both major political parties to reach their

Over the weekend, Keir Starmer had to once again confront a problem in the shape of Andy Burnham . The issue was not really a new one for Starmer. In fact, by this point, talk of Andy Burnham angling for a seat in Parliament to challenge the Prime Minister has become a kind of political groundhog day. What was new this time was the fact that the problem before Starmer was no longer a hypothetical one, and Andy Burnham was - after months of speculation - attempting to make a