Labour MP Josh Simons Quits Makerfield Seat for Andy Burnham By-Election Bid

Makerfield voters face a high-stakes by-election after MP Josh Simons announced he is stepping down to clear the way for Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

The constituency near Wigan, with about 76,000 voters in suburbs and former mining towns, has been a safe Labour seat since 1983. Reform UK dominated recent local council elections there, as in many areas, pulling roughly 50 percent of the vote against Labour's 27 percent.

Pressure mounts on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to resign, with some Labour MPs urging a leadership contest. Starmer refuses to set a departure timetable. Burnham, a top contender to replace him, lacks a parliamentary seat.

Simons won the seat in the 2024 general election with 45.2 percent of the vote and a 5,399-vote majority. Reform took second place at 31.8 percent. The seat ranks 29th on Reform's target list, needing a swing of just over 6.7 percent to flip it.

Burnham does not need to quit as mayor to run and would resign only if he wins. A loss would damage his standing and stall a Labour leadership bid. He served four terms as MP for Leigh before becoming mayor in 2017 and won re-election in 2021 and 2024 with 63.4 percent, including 66 percent in Wigan.

Nigel Farage pledged Reform would throw everything at the contest. Polling expert Sir John Curtice told Politico Labour would have less than a 5 percent chance if anyone but Burnham ran. "If he manages to win this, he will certainly be demonstrating his ability to win constituencies you would expect most Labour politicians to lose at the moment," Curtice said.

Simons told the BBC he is confident Burnham can win but faces a tough fight. Voters expressed mixed views. Nursery worker Penelope Nelson called herself a Burnham fan. "He knows what the people want and he stands for that and I think that's great," she said. She hopes he wins but expects a fight.

Retired Stan Crook told BBC Radio Manchester the area has been Labour since he started voting 45 years ago, but Burnham will struggle. "I think the biggest issue is Labour in general have let the whole country down... Nobody's got any faith in Keir Starmer," he said. Crook suspects Burnham wants to feather his own cap and criticized his Clean Air Zone push, later dropped in 2022.

Carpet cleaner Alan Entwistle praised Burnham's bus policies. "He's done brilliantly with the buses and everything else. He knows what he's doing," he said. Charity worker Gabriel Parkinson, a Green supporter, would back Burnham against Reform.

The by-election could occur as early as June 18, during Starmer's G7 summit in France. Labour's National Executive Committee must select Burnham; it blocked him from a February Gorton and Denton contest but is not expected to this time. Local party approval follows.

A Burnham win could trigger a leadership race and a new prime minister by autumn. The Green Party started candidate selection but downplayed chances. Former leader Caroline Lucas hoped they would stand aside. "There are times when it's more important to put country before party. This is one of them," she wrote on X.