Following Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation as Labour leader at the end of last month, the search began for a replacement. There had been months of internal pressure following poor local election results and declining poll ratings. To avoid any turbulence and make the transition to a new leader as smooth as possible he chose to vacate the post as party leader but stayed on as Prime Minister until his successor had been chosen.
There was then a period of turbulence as time had to be taken to see who would throw their hat in the ring for the top job. There were some candidates for the job including the Mayor of Manchester at the time Andy Burnham. This would be a slightly complicated matter for him as in order to become Labour leader and eventually Prime Minister, he had to be an MP.
In order for him to become an MP, the member for Makerfield at the time, Josh Simons decided to resign and create space for the incoming new MP. The Constituency is in the Greater Manchester area and has been held by Labour for many years.
Makerfield is considered one of the safest Labour seats in the country, in terms of length of tenure by the party. The Labour Party held the predecessor seat of Ince from 1906 until 1983 when the current constituency was created.[6] In 2010 the constituency, of the 650 nationally, polled the 105th-highest share of the vote for the Labour Party.
Labour’s majority fell significantly in 2019 as with many “Red Wall” seats, however it did not fall to the Conservatives, unlike neighbouring Leigh. In 2024, there was little increase in Labour’s share of the vote or majority, instead there was a significant increase in Reform UK’s vote share, pushing the Conservatives into third place. In 2015, Reform’s predecessor, UKIP, also came second, however Labour’s majority was over 13,000, compared to over 5,000 over Reform in 2024.
After he became MP for Makerfield Mr Burham was favourite to take over as Prime Minister. On the day he took power he stood on the steps of Downing Street to declare he wanted to run a “Cost of Living Government”. Prices for everyone had been spiralling out of control due to a number of factors which included the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The cost of many products and services which use raw materials which come from that area had become unaffordable for many people. This meant that they weren’t able to afford their every day essentials.
In one of his first moves as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham has announced that VAT will be cut from household electricity bills, as part of his pledge to help with the cost of living.
It was soon followed by a pledge for a £2 bus fare cap in England.
Burnham, in his first speech as prime minister, promised to give people more “breathing space” to help with their finances.
Cost of living is a key issue for the new PM. Many people, he has previously said, can’t go out for a pint on a Friday, can’t take the kids out and can’t go on holiday owing to the pressure on their finances.
The cost of living has dominated people’s lives in recent years, and – to some extent – our politics too. Easing that pressure hasn’t been easy.
The costs of many services in the country are increasing rapidly and people are having to rely on welfare to help make ends meet. This means that they are putting more and more pressure on the state and businesses are losing confidence over where to invest or where to run different services.
By running a Cost-of-Living government, Mr Burnham hopes to make it easier for every day people to manage their lives and also make the UK a more attractive place to live and work.
