Andy Burnham wins Makerfield byelection, eyes Starmer challenge

Peter Welsh32

Greener Manchester Mayor time. #BeeBusSummer #VoteGreen

roberttomlinson1.bsky.social19

Greens vote in Makersfield: 308. How exactly does this make the Manchester Mayoral contest "Greens v Reform "?

Cabeys Odyssey 🇪🇺🇬🇧16

Gutted to lose him as Mayor, he did a great job, in particular extending the network of busses into rural areas to ensure all ages and the poor have access to travel.

thecoamsouls.bsky.social16

If I was a conspiracy theorist I might find it odd that despite allegedly being left wing Burnham has a had an easy ride from the media and Reform seemed to go out of their way to sabotage their own campaign.

das Buell 🐈‍⬛15

Yes I think it should go to the Greens.

chiller15

We've gotta win this one! 💚✊

Beccy Pook14

Its largely a huge number of people trying to create the most altruistic system they can within what UK democracy allows. Given we are up against funding from a trillionaire facist the results are more than impressive.

Liverpool Comrade ☭11

Of course, Bloomberg is trying to reassure their corporate readers that it would still be "business as usual" with Burnham in charge. Meet the new Starmer. Same as the old Starmer!

👣Coca👣 🇺🇦 🇪🇺9

Thank goodness for the people of Makerfield using their common sense and voting for Burnham.....

ANZAC8

He changes his tune too often 2B trustworthy. It'll B more of the same; light blue labour, given where all the £¥¥€$ is coming from. Mr Burnham said a while back he wouldn't change FPTP 4 instance... Then changed the story when it was obvious he'd get more votes because of it. In it for himself!

Geekboymeta6

I would rather vote for Zack and the ✅💚 in the next election than for a party that seems more interested in nonce enabling of US ambassadors, a Home Secretary who seems to want to self deport herself, and whose incompetence has left me and my son at danger of being shot by UK 🧊 in three years

Barry Parmegiana6

Apparently the best people to decide what's best for the people of Makerfield are economists from Goldman Sachs.

elizabelta.bsky.social5

I have family in Ashton and they mostly voted to keep reform out.

kathyartist.bsky.social5

Disappointing. I’d hoped you would be for grown up politics, this is pretty puerile.

mrallumpearce.bsky.social5

Suggest you learn a bit about taxation and economics before constantly bleating about wealth taxes being the golden bullet to solve all the country’s problems.

Ms M 💚🌱💙🦊🌳🦔🌸🐞🧶♾️4

Need to pull out all the stops on this one & be Clear on how a Green candidate would improve what is perceived to have been a good job by the current mayor. It’s not gonna be easy!

Valentenya the climate cat 🍉 🐈‍⬛4

With not very much intervention by wardrobe and makeup Burnham could be Starmer's doppleganger just saying 😛

UnicornsRockUK4

I think it's 'that' time again!

ELM914

Sure but let’s not do the leftist thing now where we throw shit on each other so that reform can win. I vote green if you promise me you’ll get Farage and co investigated for incitement but better Burnham than any on the right

Krapp3

Can we please run a Hannah-style campaign? If we do, we'll win.

sonj13

Just keep reminding people of the sh!tshow in councils #DeformLtd are currently in charge of. All the weird, misogynistic and racist stuff they come out with. The colossal amounts of money they're wasting. And the number of elected officials who have had to stand down, for various reasons.

Tyche3

Burnham is transphobic. He's expected to continue Starmers anti-LGBT+ policies.

The Bishop 🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇦🇨🇦🏴‍☠️💙3

Let's say it soberly. In Makerfield Labour's spectacularly unambitious "at least we're not the other lot" strategy has paid off. Voters elected one Brexiteer and anti-immigration populist over another (creepy) Brexiteer and anti-immigration populist. We're no further forward than we were before.

guskoettlitz.bsky.social3

Agreed but you should not have stood in this by-election, a total waste of Green Party funds to which I contribute.

Richard at UKverified2

Makerfield: Beware Burnham is not another Starmer, promises one thing before an election but following election delivers something different?

Angelique2

Isn’t there a new voting system now? This act specifies it, it will be ran on a supplementary vote system. Reform won’t get enough second choices to ever be in the contest!

UnicornsRockUK2

He's another Starmer, I fear!

sapiens365.bsky.social2

That's a minging sort of congratulations, Zack.

Andy Munro2

Advised by or sponsored by? Same old, same old.

horsepop.bsky.social2

A lot of people are going to be very disappointed with Burnham in the long run, I suspect

NetherSchot 🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇳🇱2

Let's please go all in. After allowing Manchester's skyline to benefit the rich, Labour stood aside to play party politics. Manchester deserves a mayor in the mould of Zohran Mamdani, who offers hope and gets much done. Neither Labour nor Reform can offer such. Make a stand.

Celtictoffee2

Read the room Zak, it’s not the time

James Leakyboots Batty57

Tice proves, on a daily basis, that the way a thick twat can have a small fortune is by inheriting a large fortune.

John Manning34

Still too many people voting Reform PLC. Burnham should increase education spending to fix that, long term.

Sir Basil33

Although Tice looks like the kinda guy who would fleece poor Gail Platt out of her life-savings, I'm not sure even she would buy this horse-shit

Martin Johnson27

Even if this was true what does that say about Reform voters? They would prefer a far more popular and left leaning Labour leader to challenge Farage at the next election? Tice needs to face up to the fact Reform's popularity is vastly overstated by our media.

Ady whitwell21

Straight out of trumps mouth

handsinthesoil1.bsky.social18

Richard Tice is a horrible man

astina72.bsky.social17

That’s some warped, twisted excuse for the result! 🤣

Pumpkin #FBPE 🇬🇧🇪🇺 17

Why are they even giving him a platform to spout more of his bile?

categoryfive.bsky.social15

They're scared to death and making up pathetic excuses as usual. Great to see them and restore get the kicking they deserve

Rob Sherry 🇪🇺🇬🇧🇳🇱13

He’s confusing bots with actual voters again 🤣

Chris Nimmo12

Most people cannot stand Nigel Farage....

pygmyshrew.bsky.social11

Classic example of an entitled white man unable to accept the reality of life because the #BBC don't want to hurt his fragile ego.

a1957.bsky.social9

Tice Farage Lowe and Robinson are all part of the moneyed elite with their mates in the British press and tv egging them on . They together with the rw Tories are the reason this country is in the mess it is. It’s not immigration it’s austerity and Brexit and a moneyed elite looking after itself.

S Emmo9

Tactical Reform voters is an oxymoron. With the emphasis on moron.

Jan Chamier9

Makes such a lot of sense doesn’t it 😂😂😂. Tice proving, as if we needed the confirmation, that he’s got the brains of a fruit fly.

SooWho8

They really do take people for fools 😂

Rabid Cormorant6

Ummmmm If they voted for Andy then by definiton that makes them Labour voters. What he means is, he lost all those reform voters to Labour cos his party is wank. Don't let the obvious get in the way of a rubbish panic-blag, though, Dick

Iona Brand6

The interviewer should've asked Tice: "Are those Reform voters in the room with us now?"

curiouskittyk.bsky.social5

They cannot claim it must be family and sectarian voting that lost them the election. They must now claim it was because the voters wanted to get Starmer out. Although before the election they were saying Burnham is just using Makerfield to get to No. 10. 1 thing is certain they’re sore LOSERS !

Joe Hague5

"And are those Reform voters in the room now Richard?"

Dave A5

Choosing a particularly oafish candidate didn't help either.

Jakki B 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧🇺🇦🇧🇷🇪🇺🌈5

Sour grapes! Can't even admit to failure!!!

Johnny5

Yes. Reform lost because people voted for other parties. Incisive stuff from Dubai Dick.

Andy King5

I see that Reform UK have been driven to desperate lengths after finding that their preferred alternative, the reanimated corpse of Jimmy Savile, wasn’t on the ballot. bsky.app/profile/refo...

Annie Haz4

"Mini me" Trump's, both Tice & Farage. Boo hoo, you lost ‘cos people hate you & see through you! Get over it, you sad losers! Stop whining like little babies & just fuck off, you & your racist, misogynistic policies!

Syd Barhey Esq. FCA. #FBPE4

To do that, he'd have to accept that he is a massive cunt ! (Sorry for the language but on this one, it's genuinely merited).

Justice For Victims4

Let's not forget Richard Tice failed to pay approximately $91,000 to $100,000 in taxes on dividends between 2020 and 2022 before channeling his profits to an offshore trust.

Rick4

Tice crediting his supporters with the brain power to vote tactically is something to behold.

andrew4

We lost because everyone voted for the other guy is a pretty solid argument to be fair 😋

Spanish Steve4

He doesn't have much confidence in his own party does he 😂😂😂

matt-eagles.bsky.social4

Given that the core Reform supporters aren't the cleverest people, or very good at thinking more than a step or two ahead, that this might actually have happened.

yorkborn58.bsky.social4

So, they switched camps and became, LABOUR VOTERS then eh DICK 🤔

etretatelephant.bsky.social3

The family vote election rigging is coming in any time now.

Saint Helena Island Info3

If you want to be a Gammon (the UK version of MAGA) you vote Reform and stick flags up everywhere to celebrate your image of a country that hasn't existed for about 80 years.

marino11.bsky.social3

Up there with the wrong kind of snow as anexcuse for humiliation

A_Nurse__🇮🇪 🇪🇺3

£9,000,000 in crypto does not a productive brainstorm session make

June-Mitchell3

The voice says one thing, the face tells the truth. Russia will not be pleased?

Steve Mortlock3

If they don’t vote Reform when do they stop being labelled Reform voters?

lesleyak.bsky.social3

He really is Farage's lapdog, isn't he? Willing go out and make a laughingstock of himself, for the Führer.

Anthony 💙🇺🇳🇪🇺🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿3

If they exist at all and weren't just another figment of Tice's imagination they would be the Reform voters so stupid that they don't realise "getting Starmer out" is a massive step towards ensuring Reform loses momentum and loses the next GE.

Son of Leodis 🤍💛💙3

One of the weirdest spins of modern politics from #Reform

Steve Turtle 🇬🇧🇦🇺🌮2

So, what he’s essentially saying, is that Reform voters are too thick for their own good. Even a broken clock is right twice a day 👍🏼

Shane….that’ll do it2

Why don’t they just rename themselves as The GOP as this stage…talk about stealing someone’s playbook. Thankfully the Brits have more education and savvy than their cousins across the big pond……I hope.

Majhium2

Tice is a complete moron. A pathetic grimmy asshole. Reform lost because sensible people won't vote for a party that is just about hatred of anything or anyone outside of their tiny world perspective.

Mark W2

Didn’t he say that by voting Reform, that would get rid of Starmer?

mja662

So tax evasion, racism, jailed Putin stooges, payments from crypto billionaires, recruiting washed-up Tories, misogynist candidates, performative cruelty, holding the England team liable for rates of domestic violence didn't figure? Ok. And the outrage at abuse of underage kids by grooming gangs?

Ned Trifle X2

I'm sure the BBC interviewer followed up with "so you're saying Reform can't get rid of the PM?"

The Analyst2

Does he cry? At any point is he close to tears? 😭

Alex Hardy2

They’re laying the ground for denying the result at the next election when they don’t win.

SuffolkSteve2

It was a very desperate take

Bob Medley2

Tactical voting by Reform voters? So their cunning plan was to ensure they elect a popular Labour figure so that he can challenge and replace an unpopular PM. A stroke of genius.

David Shepherd2

Cos having a popular Labour leader is a great way to win a GE! He's moved on from we lost cos 'sectarian' votes, to we lost cos some of our supporters are too stupid to vote for the candidate we asked them to vote for

Sixes All The Way2

Interesting: Tice is rolled-out infront of the media so often because he is just about the best Reform have for this kind of role & yet that was his best effort at spinning the result? Without the legacy media blasting their message at every opportunity they really are desperately feeble.

Always Early2

Richard Tice wears the face of a man who is only truly comfortable in the company of demagogues, liars, odd balls and weirdos, tax exiles and morally deficient losers. Hardly surprising he’s drawn to Reform UK.

Gerald Of Ryvita2

When confronted with that kind of absolute fabrication, the first line of questioning out of any competent journalist's mouth should have been, "Are you high? Or just full of shit?"

Tom O'Connell2

Seems that now, according to Tice, Burnham was always gonna win, cos.....

Dr AM Sardar2

Tice's argument is idiotic in the extreme. If a Reform voter really wanted to punish the Labour party they would vote for Reform, keep Burnham out of Westminister & keep the despised Starmer in place to drive more people to Reform. But this requires a brain or two which Reform obviously lack.

imissnormal.bsky.social2

There is some logic to that argument as Reform voters have zero logic if that makes sense

LindyWilliams320

Burnham is an opportunist creep. Labour members are all starry-eyed about a former icon who never was. For starters he says he'll stick with Mahmood's nasty policies and he is "not able to make a judgement" on Israel's genocide in Gaza. Will he stick with his promIse of PR voting?

Simon Lucy9

Shout loud enough and with enough people and he'll agree with you.

Wuffin 🦊4

Damn the UK political landscape is barren of any actual good politicians it seems

researchdoom3

I’m relieved it’s not another Reform MP but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to what is going on. To be honest, I think it’ll be Starmer 2.0

Scornflake Grrrl3

Eww. He’s even worse than I thought he’d be

Wool-Encased Tea Addict2

(This was a really interesting kind of horrible thread and I had no idea)

Alex Rhind 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿5

Just love this. Loony, Binface and Elmo at the PM's Maidenhead constituency count 2017 GE. Had great fun explaining this to American friends.

mja663

Looks like he's on The Masked Singer.

Gary Shiells18

He brings me no hope at all. He was an anti blair candidate, then an anti corbyn candidate, now he's anti Starmer. He's for and against almost everything.

DC🕊🌍🔥🌱11

As a Labour member I will vote for Starmer, not someone who ran away when they lost the membership twice and voted for an illegal war in Iraq. bsky.app/profile/dcmi...

Irritated Llama10

Reformers claiming that THEY voted for Burnham to oust Starmer makes zero sense. They need Starmer as PM because they rely on his relative unpopularity to demonise Labour.

Fi 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Independence For Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿6

I’m not getting too excited yet. IF he becomes PM, as seems inevitable, he MUST listen to public opinion; Most people oppose the Israeli genocide of Palestinians & proscription of PA. Most people want to rejoin the EU. Most people worry about AI. Most people worry about the cost of living.

Griffin6

Absolutely when, not if. My fear is that after all the chaos, it boils down to no perceivable difference. Burham has an amazing opportunity to be bold. And use that super-majority. I know basic hopes on rejoining, PR before the next GE and taxing the wealthy are unlikely to be met, but still....

stephena77.bsky.social6

Do you think we are beyond looking for "hope" now? Will it not need concrete results (almost) immediately, as this is the feeling I get from comments across social media. He (like Starmer) isn't going to be given much, if any, time.

Yendor5

I know someone who worked for Andy in Manchester. She has nothing but good things to say about him, pragmatic, enthusiastic, inclusive - bridging the political divide for the good of the area. That’s what we need, cross party work for the good of the nation. That’d be novel.

Merluzo5

As an ex member of Labour and now a green, I've always found that hid words have sat well with me when I've heard him speak. Time will tell what he does in Number 10.

shrimpero3.bsky.social5

Mr English we the membership of the Labour party will decide who will be our leader

goryumbrella.bsky.social5

Burnham will now get the full attention of our right wing media, smear campaigns, AI slop – is labour’s coms team changing as well?

elmilligano4

I don’t understand this love in for Burnham.

Thank you to the tactical voting of Greens & Lib Dems. Don’t be too complacent. They were voting against Reform, not necessarily ’for’ Burnham. This doesn’t make him PM yet

Jack Churchill's Arrow3

Not to me he doesn't given his support for Mahmood. He's as big a clown as Starmer if he thinks she's the answer to anything.

Jane Harbison3

The members will decide not the media or the RW

Mrs B 🐧🇪🇺3

We have been disappointed so many times, I daren't hold too much hope. It remains to be seen if he is willing to put his neck out and be bold enough to pursue policies that will upset the far right and RW media. FFS Labour needs to utilise that massive majority they have and do some good with it.

James🍊🐖=🌊3

He'll need radical policies like wealth tax and rejoining EU ot he'll be called Starmer with Northern accent.

Wayne Stuart2

How wise is it putting all the hope into Burnham's basket? You know legacy & social media are going to coordinate to destroy him. Then what?

timminycricket78.bsky.social2

I can't help but like Starmer. Yes he has his haters, yes he changes his mind (don't we all), but he is smeared for being boring (after Johnson, Christ that has been refreshing), but once the haters get their claws in, it can never be re-set. Burnham has changed his image since the Corbyn defeat.

Angela McP2

Burnham has kicked a hornet’s nest - let’s hope he can control it otherwise Reform may end up with the last laugh - will be keeping fingers and toes crossed until it is odds on that Reform can only bring out their grimaces at the outcome

Martin Leyland2

You may be right about the Labour leadership. But Burnham sounds just as equivocal as Starmer at this juncture. A personality, sure, but a leader? I’d love to know what he plans to do differently on major issues, because we aren’t hearing.

On The Threshold6

None of this matters when this Labour Party is just an imitation of the Tories. Burnham won’t change that.

curiouskittyk.bsky.social5

The voters of Makerfield have spoken for the silent majority. Burnham’s victory was significant. Starmer now needs to act in the interest of the country, this vote was as much against Starmer as it was against Farage and his politics of hate Wish Burnham well, hope he’s bold & brave & brings change

thecoamsouls.bsky.social3

It is difficult to believe at this point that he is going to be anything more that a friendlier face on the same neo-liberal policies. I hope I am underestimating him but..

Sixes All The Way3

Peter: I wouldn't try to draw any kind of conclusions from the Labour Party's national support over the local elections & the by-election result of Burnham who has a far higher personal approval than his party & benfitted from being local to the area & tactical voters rejecting Reform.

Steve2

And Reform/Restore totally replaced the Conservative Party. Will Chris Mason be hypothesising about a potential leadership challenge for Badenoch or Farage seeing as both were humiliated yesterday.

ala8.bsky.social2

See all the salty tears on FB crying over Andy Burnham big win, gammon exploding saying it was rigged the result or something

Sam5

Let’s face it you will never be content with any Labour leader FULL STOP 😂

Cube4

"wigan keir" has just been rattling round my brain constantly since I saw it

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿4

He ain't gonna do shit the people running labour want it this way so he will do what his billionaire masters tell him to do see nothing will ever change as long as we let greedy fucking billionaires dictate policies

L3

yeah when I said once "he might have some ideas of his own" i meant if you asked him what his favourite film was he'd reply with an actual film

Dara O'Reilly2

Weirdly, I think Keir Starmer might have better music taste than Burnham. He's really into the Wedding Present, I seem to recall.

Sylvia2

He can’t even take the Starmer in a hoodie title anymore as Starmer has now produced a tik tok of himself in a hoodie.

Fari Bradley5

He flip flops which is worrying, palantir and the NHS, Palestine, he could have made pledges about these.

Millie A3

If he becomes PM, he won’t have much time for makerfield will he?

gec236.bsky.social12

I feel for him .. has there ever been a PM that has been such a punch bag to the shit heads of the world 🥴

Penny Stuart7

After Johnson people said “we don’t want a personality, we want a good manager”, seems they want a personality after all.

jameselise160.bsky.social7

True, but what else can he do? It’s a Labour victory, and he is, for now at least, the leader of the Labour Party. If they lost, it wouldn’t be a resounding victory for his premiership. It’s a lose/lose for him.

Ruth Shaw2

I've never ever known such negative press/slurs/attempts at muck raking against a UK PM. There are some very hard choices to make, so Burnham might have to make some screeching U turns when he sees the finances.

Steve2

I read that as suggesting STARMER resigns and stands for Manchester mayor!!! Now that would be something.