Andy Burnham has won the Makerfield by-election, and that means Labour now has two new races to run: the first is for the position of Labour leader, and the second is for the mayor of Greater Manchester.
The first will be restricted to Labour MPs, obviously, but the second will be open to any candidate who can raise the deposit. Such candidates may want to think twice before putting the money down, however, as the Greens are confident it’s going to be a two-horse race between them and Labour:
We said it was Greens vs Reform in Gorton and Denton, and we we’re right then.
It will be Greens vs Reform in the Greater Manchester Mayoral election. pic.twitter.com/oJmJBri3h3
— The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) June 19, 2026
Polanski straight in there
The Greens aren’t wasting any time, with Polanski announcing:
Greater Manchester Mayor is a straight up battle between the Green Party Vs Reform.
It’s Hope Vs Hate. We’ve been getting ready for this one.
See you tomorrow Manchester!
He’s not hitting Manchester for nothing. As Megan Kenyon of the New Statesman announced, the Greens will announce their candidate on Saturday 20 June. She added:
Am told it was a choice between three local candidates, chosen by local members. I understand the party has spent most of the Makerfield campaign prepping for the mayoral race.
This last point probably won’t come as a shock. Although the Greens did run a candidate in Makerfield, they didn’t run all that hard. And although candidate Sarah Wakefield had some good media appearances, the party functionally sat this one out by not committing to a significant ground game:
"There is no one else coming to save us, if you have an opinion about what we should do with the country, you have to get involved”
Green Sarah Wakefield says she doesn’t want to just focus on “Westminster culture” but the “fundamental problem” of “massive inequality”#bbcqt pic.twitter.com/VqBFasj8q9
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) June 4, 2026
"I believe that the women of Makerfield deserve better […] Reform’s policies for women would be a disaster. " – Sarah Wakefield, Green candidate for Makerfield. pic.twitter.com/EI3cpimGUk
— The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) June 11, 2026
Of course, there is a logic to the Greens not over-investing in Makerfield. It seemed certain that Burnham would win, after all. And if the Greens did just well enough to stop a Burnham victory, that might have turned off sympathetic voters who believed Burnham is offering a genuine alternative to Starmerism.
It’s easy to see why voters would get this impression, because Burnham has vaguely hinted at making things better:
WATCH: Andy Burnham outlines his vision for Britain during his Makerfield victory rally:
– End “trickle-down” economics
– End the “unfair” immigration system
– Push reindustrialisation
– Public procurement to use British business
– Work placements for all 16–18-year-olds pic.twitter.com/awSZvYgoaa— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 19, 2026
Some of this stuff sounds alright. At the same time, he’s already u-turned on so much throughout the by-election that it’s hard to imagine he’ll end up doing much of anything by the time he’s done:
- Burnham is silent on wealth taxes – not a promising sign from potential PM.
- Shapeshifting Burnham ditches trans rights to panic-grab Reform votes.
- Burnham slammed for saying he won’t renationalise Thames Water.
- Green candidate calls out genocide as Burnham sits on fence.
- Andy U-Turnham has already abandoned the Waspi women.
As disability activist and Canary writer Rachel Charlton-Dailey wrote following Burnham’s victory:
Andy Burnham’s win in Makerfield means he’s being hailed as the Labour left saviour for the country – but he actually wants to cut benefits via the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) just as much as Starmer.
She added:
Ultimately, he’s just another centrist da who pretends to have slightly left-leaning views, then throws disabled people under the bus just as easily – but at least the bus fare will only cost £2.
The damage done
While the Greens’ tactics around Makerfield are understandable, they’ve come at a cost. Recent polling shows the Green Party has fallen behind where it was at the time of their successful Gorton & Denton by-election. This was them last week:
POLL | Reform lead by 6pts
Ref: 25% (-2)
Con: 19% (+1)
Lab: 19% (+1)
Grn: 14% (-1)
Lib: 12% (-1)
Res: 3% (-)
Via @YouGov, 7-8 June
—
(+/- vs 22 May) pic.twitter.com/aKcRrT8AxK— Stats for Lefties
(@LeftieStats) June 9, 2026
And this was them just after the Gorton & Denton by-election in which Green candidate Hannah Spencer won:
Poll: @YouGov, 1-2 Mar (+/- vs 23 Feb) pic.twitter.com/0fqCkGoMNW
— Stats for Lefties
The Greens do well when they’re out there constantly making their case; they do less well when they’re stepping back to let Labour and Reform take centre stage.
The question now is if they can return to their past success with this mayoral race. And although Polanski has suggested otherwise, Reform will indeed be running, and the local elections showed they have a base of support in some of the Greater Manchester constituencies which get to vote.
Regardless of what happens, it’s going to be an interesting few months. And once again, people are going to hear that there’s an alternative to the past few decades of managed decline.
Featured image via the Canary
By Willem Moore
From Canary via This RSS Feed.