Labour selects Burnham and Reform UK picks plumber for by-election battle
Both Labour and Reform UK have announced their candidates for the upcoming by-election in Makerfield, with the Manchester mayor set to go up against a plumber who narrowly lost in 2024.
The Labour Party announced that local members accepted Burnham as its candidate, hours after the so-called ‘King in the North’ published a campaign video on social media.
Reform UK meanwhile billed the upcoming by-election campaign as a “David versus Goliath” battle that would see plumber Robert Kenyon go up against a likely future Prime Minister.
The by-election was triggered after former minister Josh Simons resigned as an MP in order to allow Burnham to return to parliament.
Reform’s leader Nigel Farage said: “This is The Plucky Plumber taking on Open Borders Burnham. Only Reform UK can beat Labour.”
Kenyon lost in 2024 to former Simons by 5,399 votes, a narrow result that helped Starmer get the keys to Downing Street.
Kenyon was born in Makerfield and talked up his job as a plumber in a video.
He said: “Labour and the majority of the other parties have career politicians. They go to private school, to university, they get a job in a think tank, they’re in the system [working with] an MP, and before you know it they are parachuted into somewhere they have never even visited to stand as an MP.”
“You can read a book about something but you will never actually understand it until you actually do it.”
Mayor versus a plumber
The selection is a nod to a victory by the Green Party’s Hannah Spencer over Labour’s candidate Angeliki Stogia in a February by-election in Gorton and Denton. Spencer was also a plumber before being elected.
The battle between Burnham and Kenyon will be a defining moment for British politics.
It is viewed as a critical test of whether Labour can defeat Reform UK. A victory for the sitting Manchester mayor will almost certainly lead him into Downing Street, taking over from Starmer.
Burnham has also framed the upcoming by-election in local terms, claiming he grew up around the area.
A stepping stone for Burnham?
The Labour candidate entered politics at a young age. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1991 and then later became an adviser during Tony Blair’s government.
After becoming an MP in 2001, Burnham was a backbencher before rising to serve in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet as health secretary for two years. He later stood to become Labour’s leader in 2015 before losing to Jeremy Corbyn and joining his shadow cabinet.
He was elected mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017 and would have to give up his mayoralty if he becomes an MP.
Kenyon said Burnham was using the by-election as a “stepping stone”.
Burnham has put himself forward as the candidate to “change Labour”, using a campaign video to call for a “new path for Britain”.
In a speech on Monday, he set out his ambition to fast-track regional devolution and abandon “40 years of neoliberalism”.
The by-election in Makerfield is expected to take place on 18 June.