To think Andy Burnham will not make Labour any more electable.

[4thweekofjuly]

I think there is little appetite for a new PM and a new Labour leader will make 0 difference to their chances of winning. I also think the best the public can hope for, from any government, is a slow, well managed decline. I don't think there is much of a future in the UK and the public need to accept the social contract is no more. .

Oh yeah?
You were so "riled up" you had to pretend to be ND to get out of the petty argument you started.
I think it's clear you was the most "riled up" here
Anyway, this is distracting from the real point of the thread.

Yes, let's get personal now shall we?
Gosh, you really are a "bitch" aren't you?
But at least you know what you are because you declared it further up the thread.

What a disgusting thing to say @Thefastandthecurious5

What’s that?

I live in the this constituency and think it will be very close between Burnham and whoever Reform stand. I think the possibility of our MP becoming PM will make it much closer than if someone else was standing. I don’t think people will care much that he was Mayor of Manchester or that he is a local candidate. Lots of people here still consider themselves part of Lancashire, not Greater Manchester. There was also a lot of anger towards him around CAZ implementation here before it was scrapped during COVID. I quite like him and will be keeping an open mind.

I just saw that Restore have put up a candidate for the Makerfield seat.

The Greens are going to put forward a candidate. Really gone off the Denton and Gorton MP who seems to think it’s a huge game. She also doesn’t realise that Makerfield is vastly different to her own, the Greens can’t win they can only split the vote and that a lot of people voted against Starmer’s decision to block Burnham rather than vote for her per se. Very disappointed in the Greens and I’m not the only one. This won’t be forgotten.

That is a very silly and short-sighted decision. It will make it less likely Burnham will win the by election, meaning not only another Reform MP but that Starmer will survive. They have said they will not work with him if there is a potential for a coalition at the next election but would with Burnham. But they've made it less likely he will win a seat! I think a Labour/Green coalition will be as bad as a Tory/ Reform coalition but presumably they don't so why make it difficult for him to win a seat?

Who are Restore now? Too many splinter right/ left wing parties!

Rupert Lowe … they make Reform look left wing

This. He’s about the only labour candidate I’d ever vote for (as a Mancunian).

However, I’m not sure he’s qualified for the PM role despite having done a good job in local politics, and I’m a bit irked he’s allowed to stand for election as an MP before seeing out his term as mayor.

This will be a complete and utter waste of their time.

They are being very clever too. Whilst the Labour and Reform camps are busy backbiting against each other, they are appealing to what the people of Makerfield are concerned about on their Facebook posts. Talk of saving the roller rink, the disruption the regeneration works in Ashton have had on the community and how it has impacted local businesses financially, mass house building in Hindley and feral kids in Ashton are all things that people want dealt with.

The fact Restore are complaining about the regeneration works shows how stupid they are.

This. AB is breathtakingly arrogant and the MP who stepped down is a disgrace. Many people won't vote Labour if that is how they treat their constituents. Also AB is two faced and contradictory. Last September he said at Labour meeting he wanted to take the UK back into the EU and reverse Brexit. Now a few months later he's trying to distance himself from that public remark because Maker field voted for Brexit. He's realised his September statement will go down like a bucket of cold sick in Makerfield. I hope he loses. People who are elected should serve their time unless sick or kicked out for incompetence.

People who are elected should serve their time unless sick or kicked out for incompetence.

But I thought you were a Reform voter?

https://www.markpack.org.uk/176783/how-many-councillors-has-reform-uk-lost-since-the-may-2026-elections/

Makerfield isn’t a ‘strong Reform base.’ There was support for Reform at the local elections but Labour is the dominant force. The local MP is incredibly popular. A lot of the Wigan local election results are due to the Astley Warehouse situation. People are angry at Wigan Council for that situation. There is also a lot of building work planned which people aren’t happy about.

Burnham as PM will probably make little difference to the way the country is going , despite his claims. The reality is a significant number of labour MPs and the unions simply will not allow the wholesale changes required to make the welfare bill manageable, nor support the action required to curb immigration. Starmer has put forward plans that may genuinely have made a difference to reducing the country’s debt and motivating people to work but has u turned on them all after pressure from his own party. Why would anyone believe it would be different under Burnham

How lovely of one MP to hand over his electorate to another who would like his seat.

They're behaving like Mediaeval Feudal lords by treating the electorate like a herd of cattle that can be traded.

I sincerely hope that anyone-except AB-wins, in order to teach all politicians that the electorate cannot be treated with such disregard.

In any event, we have already seen what a shyster AB is.

He will happily spout all elephants should be maroon on day one and then, if he thinks voters think all elephants should be orange, he will change his tune and agree with them on day two. He will keep saying that until the day after he is elected.

Not to mention, arranging for the press to take a picture of him jogging around the corner, only to return in his Volkswagen which he must have already earlier parked, ready in order for him to do so.

I hope his arse is kicked-King of the North...a title he came up with himself, the self glorying prick.

I agree with what you have said wholeheartedly, but he has a huge majority. If he was a bit more determined, or even charismatic, he could have controlled those MP's. Its part of his job. Instead he prevaricated and u turned, caving into them, so they smelt blood and have just gone for him again and again. I agree that the problem with the Labour government is the Labour party, but the only chance Burnham has is that those Leftists have caused all this to get him in, so they can't then do this all again. Who else will they drag out? Clive Lewis? Burnham may have a chance of telling them to shut it and get on with their job or he'll call an election.

A lot of people in Makerfield are seething at being used in this way and their 'liking' for the previous MP, who would like to sell them to AB-for the price of a peerage-has quickly eveaporated.

There will be one or two die hards of course but in general terms, people are not happy.

Not to mention, arranging for the press to take a picture of him jogging around the corner, only to return in his Volkswagen which he must have already earlier parked, ready in order for him to do so.

What do you mean? He explained why he drove back home: “It’s part of my regular routine. I often leave my car at Newton station and do my morning run to pick it up.”

Oh right, that's ok then. 😂I absolutely believe that and so does everyone else.

Apart maybe from all those cynical people in Makerfield and shame on them for not believing this perfectly plausible reason, as to why a man who took off jogging-in front of the press that he has assembled-should then return in a car when he-foolishly and mistakenly-thought they had all gone!

What a dickhead!

He’s run marathons in the past. He’s definitely a runner. I’m not a fan, think he’s shit stirring and should sit down and shut up, but the run thing rings true to me.