‘I had one man spit at my poster’: Makerfield deeply divided as byelection campaign draws to a close

People across constituency say voters are ‘turning against each other’ but Labour believes they will back Andy Burnham because he is ‘bringing people together’

O n a wall inside Andy Burnham’s buzzy campaign centre, the signatures of hundreds of MPs, peers and councillors show the scale of the operation to return him to parliament. “MPs are like buses round here these days,” says one Labour volunteer. “You don’t see one for ages then hundreds turn up at once.”

The voters of this long-neglected corner of Greater Manchester will on Thursday decide whether Labour’s love-bombing has paid off in the most consequential UK byelection in decades.

Barely 24 hours before voting begins in Makerfield, the polls suggest Burnham will triumph, and Labour figures sound increasingly confident.

“It’s really positive,” beams the Labour MP Rachael Maskell as she climbs into a car piled with Burnham-branded leaflets on Tuesday afternoon. “I’ve had people take down Reform posters and come back to Andy because they can see it’s so divisive. In the last minutes of reaching a decision [voters] are turning to Andy because he’s bringing people together.”

Maskell, who led a rebellion against disability cuts last July, says Labour has “found its values and purpose again” in Makerfield and urged Burnham to launch an immediate leadership challenge if elected.

Asked whether he could be prime minister by the Labour party conference in September, Maskell says: “I’m optimistic that can happen very quickly … This country is crying out for his leadership.”

Constituency polls have given the Greater Manchester mayor between a three- and 12-percentage point lead over Reform. While the “Burnham bounce” is real, the result may be decided by another party entirely: the rightwing Restore Britain.