The big word in British politics on Thursday: Makersfield. Residents of this post-industrial patch of northwest England will decide whether to send Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester's high-profile mayor sometimes hailed as England's "King of the North," back to Parliament, per NBC News. If he wins the electoral district of 100,000, Burnham says he'll move quickly to challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership, a contest that could change the occupant of 10 Downing Street without a general election.
Polls put Burnham comfortably ahead of his main special election rival, Reform UK's Robert Kenyon, despite Kenyon's support in an area that's older, poorer, 97% white, and increasingly drawn to Nigel Farage's insurgent right-wing party. Indeed, this is "the most difficult political terrain [Burnham] could have chosen," Politico reports. Burnham is pitching himself as a listening, local-born reformer promising shifts on the economy, services, and politics while maintaining a pledge not to hike income tax—an offer critics call unrealistic in a cash-strapped country.
Looming over it all: Starmer's record-low approval ratings, complaints he lacks vision, and a public mood summed up by one Ashton-in-Makerfield shopkeeper: "Everything is just about broken and we need a change." Attempting to avoid another leadership challenge, Starmer says he'll offer Burnham a cabinet position, giving him "a big part in the Labour government," if he's successful Thursday, per the BBC. Burnham previously served as member of parliament for Leigh from 2001 to 2017, and has been mayor ever since.
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