ShakerMakerfield

If you’re asking ‘What’s the story?’, then let me inform you that LabourList spent this morning in the glorious constituency of Makerfield which is our first trip of the next few weeks.

Naturally, as many Labour members do, I have mixed feelings about this by-election. Let me begin with the positive ones.

I’m excited, as I always am, to be back in the city region I proudly call home: Greater Manchester. While I remain an unapologetically proud Boltonian, I recognise that between Bolton and Wigan there exists a rivalry that has often felt Made of Stone. From the Premier League battles of the late 2000s to more recent years scrapping it out across League One, there hasn’t always been much room for positive sentiment on the pitch between our towns.

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Then there is the culinary war: the Bolton pasty versus the Wigan pie.

But today, football loyalties and bakery-based tribalism are firmly parked.

Because today matters.

Labour members from across this region will gather to support the Mayor who has delivered for all our communities and who now needs our backing in a crucial by-election: Andy Burnham.

It is rare I agree with Nigel Farage. In truth, it is not a situation I expected to find myself in. But on this occasion, we appear to share a recognition that the stakes could hardly be higher. This by-election may prove to be one of the most consequential contests in British politics for decades – perhaps the clearest indication yet of where the country, and Labour, goes next.

That pressure is impossible to ignore.

The last two weeks, in particular, have weighed heavily on many in the Labour movement. I know I am not alone in feeling the emotional burden of what an existential threat to the party can feel like. It creates immense pressure on both this moment and the man standing in it.

The temptation, if you let it, is to become consumed by the nerves. To fear things may not go according to The Masterplan.

I refuse to give in to that fear.

Partly because I was genuinely heartened to see Keir Starmer, who may understandably have mixed feelings about this by-election for obvious reasons, make clear that he wants to see the whole Labour movement get behind the campaign. So do I.

But also because when you look at Andy Burnham, there is little sense that he is paralysed by the pressure. Instead, there is confidence but not arrogance, with conviction in what he believes this campaign can offer.

People will inevitably have different views about Burnham. But what cannot reasonably be denied is that there is a clear political pitch here.

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Back someone who wants to take the lessons of Greater Manchester, a place that has increasingly stood out for growth, ambition and local leadership during a period of wider national decline and apply them to the country as a whole.

At its heart, this is a campaign rooted in optimism. In the belief that politics can still bring people together rather than drive them apart. That communities can still feel represented. That public service can still improve lives. Call it a Step On from the cynicism and managed decline that too often constrict political thinking.

Whether voters embrace that argument remains to be seen. Politics, as every Labour activist knows, rarely follows a predictable setlist and can really end up twisting your melon, man.

As Labour gathered in Makerfield today, perhaps this is the moment to put old rivalries aside and remember something simple: if we want a better future, this is no time to be Half the World Away from the fight.

All Labour members must come together to do everything in our power as we campaign in this by-election. Makerfield is the place to show that when it comes to Labour, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.

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