Makerfield by-election result live: Burnham secures landslide win over Reform to open up path to challenge Starmer

The one-word title of Labour’s manifesto 23 months ago – “Change” – was good enough to win an election. But it has proven singularly hopeless as a plan for government.

Whatever change Keir Starmer delivered, it turned out not to be what people wanted. Cutting the winter fuel payment, putting up taxes and hiring Peter Mandelson were not keeping things the same… but not what most people thought they were voting for.

Sir Keir Starmer and his backers in the Parliamentary Labour Party have stressed the need to focus on the by-election for the Greater Manchester mayoralty triggered by Andy Burnham’s election.

That by-election is scheduled to take place on July 30, with Labour set to announce its candidate on June 26.

The party is already pitching the contest as a two-horse race between Labour and Reform UK but the Greens will look to build on their success in the Gorton and Denton by-election with a strong challenge of their own.

Green leader Zack Polanski has sought to portray his party as the main challenger to Nigel Farage, saying the mayoral contest will be “a straight up battle between the Green Party vs Reform”.

Sir Keir Starmer faces pressure to set out plans to quit Downing Street over the weekend after Andy Burnham stormed to victory in the Makerfield by-election.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly vowed to fight any leadership challenge, insisting he will not “walk away”.

But Mr Burnham’s by-election victory has prompted more backbenchers and Labour grandees to call for Sir Keir to stand down.

Some MPs who had signed a statement rejecting calls for a leadership election last month have now reversed their position while former home secretary Alan Johnson told LBC his message to the Prime Minister would be: “It’s over, Keir.”

Jess Phillips, who quit as a minister last month, has said that Andy Burnham had “proved his hypothesis” that he could take on Reform UK by winning in Makerfield.

“He beat off Reform absolutely soundly in an area that absolutely should have been delivered to Reform and if anyone else had stood there, we would not be having this conversation now … I think he has earned the right to come and make his case to the Parliamentary Labour Party,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Kate Devlin, Whitehall editor – “He isn’t ready – but no PM ever is”

If he enters Downing Street later this summer, Andy Burnham will carry with him more government experience than Keir Starmer, David Cameron and even Tony Blair whenever they crossed that famous threshold.

In the last Labour government, he tackled that most poisoned chalice of departments – health, both as a minister and later as the secretary of state. He is also a former culture secretary who once served as the chief secretary to the Treasury.

Read what our writers have to say below:

It is understood that Andy Burnham’s camp wants Sir Keir Starmer to set out his plans to step down in the coming days but would accept a timetable that kept him in No 10 until September this year.

However, former deputy leader Baroness Harriet Harman has urged the party to move faster, telling Sky News’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast ministers could not be left “in a state of paralysis all through the summer”.

“Well, I hate to quote Boris Johnson, but do you remember what he said, when he realised that he had to leave government? And he said about his ministers and his MPs, the 'herd is moving',” she said.

“Well, I have to say that it's not only that the herd is moving, they are stampeding.

“We need an animal expert on this programme to tell us about herds, because the point about herds is that if you get left behind by the herd, you know, that's it. You know, you're extinct. And there is this sense of collective movement.”

Pressure is growing on Keir Starmer as former health secretary Alan Johnson told LBC told that it was time for the prime minister to step down.

Asked what he would tell the PM, Mr Johnson replied: “I’d say 'it’s over, Keir'. And listen, he’s a bright guy. He knows it’s over.

“He will forever be in the history books as the man who turned us around, Labour, from the second-worst result in our history to the second best result in our history in one five-year period.”

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander is understood to have been the first to tell the PM to go, while other ministers have told The Independent they plan to tell Sir Keir Starmer he must set out a timetable to leave No 10 Cabinet members, including Yvette Cooper, Ed Miliband and Shabana Mahmood, are also said to be preparing to repeat their earlier demands that he do so, in the wake of Andy Burnham’s victory.

Meanwhile, ministers have confirmed they will tell Sir Keir that he needs to quit, while previous loyalists are also said to be considering interventions. Ms Alexander had a conversation with Sir Keir on Friday afternoon. Deputy leader Lucy Powell and culture secretary Lisa Nandy are already seen as part of “team Burnham”.

Former cabinet minister Louise Haigh, a key lieutenant for Mr Burnham, has also called for him to go. “People in Makerfield have shown that they don’t want Reform they want a changed Labour, they want hope and optimism,” she added.

There are also expected to be representations made to former health secretary Wes Streeting to cut a deal with Mr Burnham, instead of pushing his own planned leadership bid.