Burnham 'must keep promises' after Makerfield win

"He needs to keep his promises for a start, or he's not going to get very far."

Those were the words of Makerfield resident Carol Lamb, who was one of nearly 25,000 people who voted for Andy Burnham on Thursday.

Residents in the constituency have been reacting to the now ex-mayor of Greater Manchester's huge win in the by-election, saying he needs to deliver on what he pledged on the doorsteps in Wigan.

Burnham won a commanding victory as he secured 55% of the vote and a 9,000 majority over Reform UK's Robert Kenyon, with Reform failing to match May's strong local election results.

Lamb said Burnham now needed to "make sure that money is spent where it needs to be spent".

Echoing her view, resident Marcin Wysocki, who owns a chicken shop in Ashton-in-Makerfield, said it was important for politicians to "deliver what they promised".

While Reform were initially bullish about their chances in Makerfield, Burnham's popularity was also a source of optimism for Labour in an area where he previously picked up 66% of the vote in the 2024 Greater Manchester mayoral election.

The campaign was sparked by the resignation of Labour's Josh Simons, who said he wanted to step aside to give Burnham a chance to return to Westminster.

Burnham, who during the campaign said he would join any Labour leadership battle and "take the fight as high as I can", is now widely expected to challenge Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

But for his new constituents, the continued strength of Burnham's personal political brand will rely on him being able to deliver the change he promised on the campaign trail.

Lamb, 62, from Ashton-in-Makerfield, described Reform's focus on immigration and "stopping the boats" as "racist" - and said she hoped Burnham would be able to tackle issues such as housing and the jobs market.

"[Burnham] needs to make sure that money is spent where it needs to be spent. We need more social housing for people," she said.

"I have my son and son-in-law living with us because they can't afford to get on the housing ladder because they're on minimum wage.

"You can't live on minimum wage in a house of your own. It doesn't work."

Wysocki had a similar view, adding: "The problem is, is it an empty promise or does he give a promise for the people, to deliver that promise?

"What you tell the people, that's another thing, so we see what happens because everybody promised before but never delivered.

"It's very hard thing for everybody now, you know, that's that's my opinion."

For 54-year-old Darren, from Wigan, Burnham's personal appeal was an antidote to the "divisiveness" of some of the other candidates' campaigns, and he praised the former culture secretary's work to support the Hillsborough disaster survivors.

"I just think the divisiveness in the country at the moment is very horrible," he said. "There's a lot of nastiness with people and we've just got to understand.

"I get there's problems, but the problems can be obviously helped and sorted but somebody's got to do it and I don't think Restore and Reform were doing it in the right way."

Burnham's willingness to get out among the voters also paid off with Stephen Tiller, 58, who said he was "made-up" about the results.

"I had a picture taken with him at the Brian Boru Irish bar and he come over very nicely, like he had his arm around me and 'nice to meet you'," he said.

However, shop owner Jyoti Broadhurst, 63, said she had low expectations of politicians in general.

Describing herself as a "disgruntled Tory" who voted Reform as a "protest", she said she believed an Andy Burnham-led government would be "quite disastrous".

She said: "I don't believe any of them, whatever they say, whatever they promise. They can promise you the earth; when it comes to the crunch it doesn't happen.

"I've lost faith in a lot of politicians, they're not like the old-fashioned politicians we had. They were dedicated to the country, they were dedicated to the causes.

"These new people who are coming through, I personally believe they're in it for themselves now."

Burnham's allies will now hope Starmer can be persuaded to step aside with a potentially messy leadership election, although the current leader has vowed to "fight on".

In Greater Manchester, Burnham's victory means an election for the now vacant mayoralty. It is likely to take place on 30 July.

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