It was the constituency that paved the way for Andy Burnham’s coronation as prime minister.
When Josh Simons announced he was stepping down as Makerfield’s MP, it gave then-mayor of Greater Manchester Burnham a route back to parliament, to ultimately challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.
But, four months on, it’s easy to forget that when Burnham’s candidacy was announced, it was by no means a given that he would win.
This was a constituency where 65% had voted Leave in the EU referendum and where Reform had had significant success in the local elections.
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Brexit and Burnham’s strong pro-EU stance had expected to be an issue for him. In the end, Burnham won comfortably in the Greater Manchester seat, and his vocal criticism of Brexit mattered not.
The reason for this may well be very simple: even if pro-Leave areas like Makerfield, voters have turned their backs on Brexit.
To mark 100 days of his premiership, Sky News’s Beth Rigby spoke to locals in Makerfield to get their thoughts on how their MP has fared as prime minister.
You would expect that, in the 75th most pro-Leave seat in the UK, some voters would be a bit miffed by Burnham’s continued criticism of Brexit and refusal to rule out the possibility of Britain rejoining the EU in the long-term.
But, as Rigby highlighted in a post on X, many of those she spoke to openly admitted to having regrets about voting Leave and were open to Burnham’s suggestions of reassessing things.
Makerfield therefore might be the ultimate vindication of Burnham’s approach to the European question.
Whilst the Tories and Reform would have you believe that any conversations about Brexit are some sort of betrayal of democracy, most people in this country accept Brexit was a mistake – and one that we should be open to trying to correct.
There are mountains of evidence to show how disastrous Brexit has been and polls now show the majority of Brits would vote to rejoin the EU if there was another referendum, albeit with the caveat that we may not have the same benefits as before.
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Burnham is still bound by Labour’s red lines from its 2024 manifesto, and whilst he makes no secret of his disdain for Brexit, the PM has made clear he will follow the public’s lead.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain this week, Burnham ruled out any possibility of Britain rejoining the EU in this parliament – but this does leave the door open to some sort of manifesto pledge that has been suggested by senior Labour figures such as Sadiq Khan and Emily Thornberry.
Burnham’s Brexit stance has done no damage to his popularity either. Labour continue to be clear at the top of the polls, with some suggesting an even stronger pro-EU rhetoric would only boost the party’s popularity.
Whilst the debate about Brexit will not go away any time soon – and is unlikely to be any less divisive than the first time it played out – Makerfield is the perfect proof of why Burnham is willing to restart conversations about it.
Even previously pro-Leave constituencies can no longer deny the damage that has been done.
The question is, can Burnham rally enough of the country around him to try and undo this great act of self-harm that was voted for in 2016.