Andy Burnham confirmed as Labour candidate for Makerfield byelection

Party says nobody else has been shortlisted for contest in Greater Manchester, expected to take place on 18 June

Andy Burnham has been confirmed as the candidate for the Makerfield byelection as Labour’s national executive committee rubber-stamped the mayor of Greater Manchester.

His main rival will be Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon, a local plumber who stood in the constituency in the general election and was unveiled as the party’s byelection candidate minutes after Burnham’s confirmation.

Labour confirmed no other candidates had been shortlisted for the seat vacated by Josh Simons – with the byelection now expected to take place on 18 June , once the date is confirmed by Commons authorities.

Sources on the NEC said other candidates had applied to stand in the constituency but had not been shortlisted.

Burnham said in a statement that he was “humbled” to have been selected, adding that the places that make up the Makerfield constituency had been neglected by national politics for too long and he was glad that the byelection had finally put them into the spotlight.

“These proud working-class communities represent the very best values of our country and they deserve so much better,” he said.

“Many people here feel Westminster isn’t working for them and they are right. I am standing to change that and get the voice of these communities heard loud and clear.”

More than anything, he said that people needed life “to be more affordable again,” instancing measures he had taken as mayor of Greater Manchester on travel costs.

If elected to Westminster, he is expected to quickly move to challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.

Allies of the mayor have said he would use this week to set out his economic agenda and to forcefully close down issues that could derail his return to Westminster, including ruling out any imminent return to the EU and recommitting to the fiscal rules on borrowing and debt.

Makerfield-born Kenyon, who has served as an army reservist and previously worked for the NHS in Lancashire as a specialist technician, came within 5,399 votes of Simons in the 2024 election.

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, claimed that the byelection contest was now a “David versus Goliath battle”.

“This is the ‘The Plucky Plumber’ taking on ‘Open Borders Burnham.’ Only Reform UK can beat Labour in this byelection,” he added.

In a video posted online by Reform, Kenyon took aim at Burnham, claiming that Makerfield was a “stepping stone” for the Labour politician.

There was also a further indication of the way in which Reform is likely to campaign by trying to depict the Cambridge educated, former special adviser as an elite blow-in. Burnham spent his youth in Makerfield, which is close to his family home.

“Labour and probably the other parties have got career politicians. They go to private school, to university, they get a job at a thinktank or they are an assistant to an MP and then before you know it they are parachuted into somewhere they have never even visited to stand as an MP,” said Kenyon.

However, while Labour and Reform are the bookies favourites in what is expected to be a tight contest, Farage’s party faces the prospect of losing votes to its rightwing rival Restore Britain, which has selected a local businesswoman, Rebecca Shepherd.

The constituency lies within the borough of Wigan, where Burnham won 66% of the vote just two years ago when he ran for the Greater Manchester mayoralty. However, Labour suffered devastating losses in Wigan’s local elections earlier this month, with Reform UK winning 24 out of 25 seats in the borough.

The Green party will unveil its candidate on Wednesday evening while the Conservative candidate will also become known in the next 24 hours.