Burnham’s a nice fella but he’s still Labour and I can’t vote for them’
On a showery Tuesday afternoon, the village of Bryn wouldn’t strike anyone as being at the centre of Britain’s political universe. But that it most certainly is.
A few people make their way to the doctors’ surgery, while a smattering of locals head up the central hill to the small shopping precinct.
Voters here in the suburb of Ashton – population 11,000 – along with the rest of the Makerfield constituency, are about to be put under the electoral microscope for the next 29 days until the June 18 by-election.
On the afternoon that Andy Burnham confirmed his Labour candidacy with a slick Stanley Chow illustration and “For Us” slogan – and ‘plucky plumber’
Robert Kenyon was selected as Reform UK’s choice to stand – the main hub of activity in Bryn is a couple of dozen contractors in hi-vis working on the steep embankment on access improvements to the railway station.
On May 7, 24 of the 25 seats on Wigan council, including Robert Kenyon in Bryn, were won by Reform UK, putting a sizeable dent in the Labour-led authority’s majority on a council they have controlled for generations.
The only way that could have happened in that former Labour voters switched to Reform.
Ashton resident Paul Riley is one of them. He voted for Keir Starmer’s Labour in 2024, but has now made a switch to Reform, seemingly like many others in Makerfield.
He said: “Labour have broken their mandate for me,” he said. “I counted up at least 20 promises that Labour have broken and they’ve not even been in power for two years.
“I voted Reform to shake things up, locally and nationally, hopefully to see some real change. I won’t be changing my vote in this byelection.
“I think Andy Burnham’s a nice fella but if he becomes Labour leader, it will still be Labour so I can’t back him.”
Around a mile away in the centre of Ashton-in-Makerfield, things are much busier.
There is hustle and bustle in the surprisingly big town centre, which is currently pockmarked with ongoing groundworks to improve the roads and public areas.
Ashton resident Lyndsey Maloney, has also noticed a shift in her social group from Labour support to voting for Reform UK.
She said the "Burnham effect” could shift that in the upcoming by-election.
She said: “Many in my social group who I chatted to voted Reform in the council elections a couple of weeks ago.
“I asked some of them to name their candidate and they couldn’t tell me. They’re educated, intelligent people and the reasons they gave me were that they felt fed up , that things needed to change and be shook up.
“I think Andy Burnham has felt that shift in opinions, understands the disaffection with working voters and will understand that cry for change, for thing to be done differently. I’m hoping that’s the case.”
In Bryn, Thomas Davies had been delivering rhubarb to the local community food shop. He said he was ‘the definition of a floating voter’.
He said he’d never supported Labour before but would be backing Burnham in Makerfield come polling day.
“I want him to get rid of Starmer, Reeves, Lammy and Miliband… get change at the very top. If I vote for Farage’s lot it would just mean they have one more MP in a small group, they can achieve nothing.
“At least with Burnham he’d be able to get things shaken up.”
Back in busy Ashton some people had clearly already had enough of electioneering and reporters.
“Not now, I’m fed up of being mithered, they even came in the pub about it”, one young woman told me shortly after crossing Gerard Street.
Another man, pushing a pram on Garswood Street was even more strident: “It’s an unnecessary circus,” he said.
“They should be focusing on their jobs, not this. Politicians are elected to try and improve the lives of folk, not this pantomime.”
Others are more engaged with the by-election, one which is set to be remembered in the annals of history and which could lead, if Andy Burnham’s plan succeeds, to the crowning of the country’s next Prime Minister.
Peter Thompson, 78 runs the Revolving Records shop in the town. He proudly shows me artwork he created of The Beatles and The Doors which adorn his shop window.
Fresh from welcoming a television crew from New York, he said: “For me Reform’s victory in Wigan was down to one of two things.
“It was either a backlash against Labour’s policies or a reaction to Labour’s leader.
“Andy Burnham’s now standing here, if he gets in and there’s no guarantee of that does, it mean that Labour’s policies are fine or does
"it means people were voting against Starmer.
“Whether it will make any difference to the running of the country or our lives here in Ashton-in-Makerfield, I highly doubt it.”