Makerfield, Greater Manchester, has found itself at the centre of Britain’s political conversation ahead of a by-election on the 18th June.
In an indirect challenge to the Prime Minister’s leadership, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is vying for a seat in Westminster. Becoming an MP would be his ticket to challenging Sir Keir Starmer as party leader, and thereby, the keys to 10 Downing Street.
Andy Burnham was raised with a Catholic faith, and told The Guardian in 2009: “Three things are important in my life, apart from family”, listing these as: “Everton FC, the Labour party and the Catholic church.”
However, in 2015, he told Huffington Post that he had “drifted” from faith in adulthood.
“I’m Catholic by upbringing, but I’m not particularly religious now,” said Burnham.
"Catholic social teaching underpins my politics... I still believe in the values and the grounding it gives you, I’m a very big believer in that.
“But because of my background, when I voted [on gay marriage and other issues] it always caused a kind of tension in terms of people I know, friends, family."
Were he to become PM, matters could be complicated due to 19th-century legislation which directly forbids a Catholic or Jewish person from holding parliament’s top job.
The Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829 set out that “any person professing the Roman Catholic religion” must not “directly or indirectly advise his Majesty” regarding appointments to “any office or preferment in the Church of England”.
Anyone doing so would be “deemed guilty of a high misdemeanour, and disabled forever from holding any office, civil or military, under the Crown”.
The same is true under the Jews’ Relief Act of 1858. Britain's only PM of Jewish heritage, Benjamin Disraeli, avoided it as he was baptised into the Church of England aged 12.
Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron told Premier's A Mucky Business podcast that he anticipates Burnham's local appeal will propel him to the top of the polls.
"When somebody is very present in their community, it's an antidote to populism," Farron said. "I am confident that Burnham could get a much bigger share of the vote than any other Labour candidate... but what happens in Makerfield, we'll have to watch and see."
Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon, a plumber and local councillor who finished second in the constituency at the 2024 general election, is the main challenger, with limited polling so far suggesting Labour’s Andy Burnham is ahead, but the race remains tight.
Restore Britain, a new party founded by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, is contesting its first by-election in Makerfield and is currently polling in third place, ahead of the Conservatives, Greens and Liberal Democrats. Its candidate, Rebecca Shepherd, a local businesswoman, is campaigning on “reversing mass immigration” and “rewarding British workers”.
The Conservatives are represented by former Wigan mayor Michael Winstanley, and the Liberal Democrats’ Jake Austin, a Stockport councillor, is also centring his campaign on local issues and positioning himself as a “sensible alternative” to Labour and Reform.
The Green Party candidate, Manchester councillor Sarah Wakefield, was selected after the original candidate withdrew, and is urging voters to “vote in hope” rather than “anger”.