Andy Burnham’s Makerfield by-election victory speech

Press Association Reporters

Here is Andy Burnham’s speech following his victory in the Makerfield by-election:

“Everyone knows that politics isn’t working.

“Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point.

“From here on I will give everything I have got to make it so. To ensure the name Makerfield is forever synonymous with bringing about the change this country needs, bringing back something we’ve lost – hope – hope for the future.

“I am proud that this place has shone in the world’s spotlight for the last few weeks and the warmth, humour and hospitality of its people has been on show for all to see. 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.

“I spoke in the campaign about the need to change politics. I promised to lead by example, from the front, as your Member of Parliament.

“I know people who traditionally vote for the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, and perhaps more recently for Reform UK, have given me their support in this election. I will always have respect to them for that. And out of respect for them, I will always take a place-first, rather than a party-first, approach and I will focus on problem-solving rather than point-scoring.

“And I will work hard after this by-election to heal the divisions of this campaign. And let it be really understood that I will be your MP, however you voted.

“When this borough went to the polls in May, it made a loud cry for change. In this campaign we have begun to answer that.

“But 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.

“But there is a chance now from this result tonight to build a new politics based on unity and hope. Turning away from the path that takes us to a divided, dark politics of the kind we see in the United States.

“We must now take this path and put this country back on the right path, and bring people back together and get things working properly again.

“It is with some sadness that this result brings an end to my wonderful nine years as mayor of Greater Manchester.

“This city region has given so much to me. And it is a wrench to leave the job I love. But I am not leaving the service of Greater Manchester. I’ve always been clear that it can’t achieve everything it should be and we can’t close the north-south divide, and we can’t make all the great English cities be what they should be without big change at the national level.

“I always knew one day I would seek to go back to Westminster to complete that unfinished business so that Makerfield and Greater Manchester, and the north of England, can fulfil their potential.

“This result will bring about a country that works fairly for everywhere and for everybody.

“People here have voted for change. They have voted for more power for the North and everywhere forgotten by Westminster. They have voted for hope. Now, let’s give that back to them.”

Makerfield by-election result: Key numbers and historical trends

Andy Burnham won more than half of all votes cast in the Makerfield by-election, comfortably beating the combined total for second and third place parties Reform UK and Restore Britain.

The now-former Greater Manchester mayor won 54.8% of the votes cast, outperforming all the opinion polls published during the campaign, none of which placed him above 50%.

Reform candidate Rob Kenyon won 34.5% of the vote, while Restore Britain’s Rebecca Shepherd won 6.8%, which together come to 41.3%.

Mr Burnham’s vote share was also higher than the figure achieved by his predecessor Josh Simons at the 2024 general election, which was 45.2%, and ranks as Labour’s best performance in the seat since 2017.

Mr Kenyon’s 34.5% of the vote represents Reform’s second best performance at a Westminster by-election to date, behind only the contest in Runcorn and Helsby in 2025, where his party got 38.7% – which was enough to win the seat from Labour.

Both Labour and Reform finished well ahead of all other parties in Makerfield.

Ms Shepherd was the only other candidate to get more than 5% of the votes cast – the threshold needed to avoid losing the £500 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% of the vote and lost their deposit.

Conservative candidate Michael Winstanley finished in fourth place with just 2.2% of the vote.

This is the Tories’ second lowest share of the vote at a Westminster by-election since the Second World War.

The lowest occurred a few months ago at the Gorton and Denton by-election in February, when the Tories won only 1.9% of the vote.

Green party candidate Sarah Wakefield finished fifth with 0.7%, while Liberal Democrat candidate Jake Austin came sixth with 0.4% – the lowest for the Lib Dems at any by-election since the party was founded in 1988.

There was a swing in the share of the vote from Reform to Labour of 3.4 percentage points – the equivalent of more than three in 100 people who voted Reform at the 2024 general election switching to Labour this time.

Mr Burnham’s majority over Mr Kenyon was 9,231, nearly 4,000 more than Josh Simons’ majority in 2024 over Mr Kenyon of 5,399.

Mr Burnham also pushed up the size of Labour’s lead over Reform from 13 percentage points in 2024 to 20 points.

The turnout in Makerfield was 58.7%, the highest for a parliamentary by-election in nearly seven years.

The last time a by-election had a higher turnout was the contest in Brecon and Radnorshire in August 2019, which saw the Liberal Democrats win the seat from the Conservatives, when turnout was 59.6%.

The jump in turnout meant more votes were up for grabs, with Mr Burnham winning a total of 24,927, an increase on the 18,202 won by Mr Simons in 2024.

There were 15,696 votes cast for Reform, up 2.7% on the party’s performance in 2024; 3,111 for Restore (which did not stand in 2024); 997 for the Conservatives, down 8.7%, 308 for the Greens, down 3.7%; and 163 for the Liberal Democrats, down 6.4%.

The other candidates got a combined total of 274 votes.