Head North… to Makerfield

Makerfield. Never in my life has a constituency in the North West of England, less than an hours drive from where I grew up, been centre stage in quite the same way as this.

An electorate of 76,000 voters will vote not just for their local MP, but on the future of politics in this country.

But, if you read LabourList, you know all of this already. What you may not know, unless you have been to the constituency in this crazy time, is exactly what it is like up there at the moment. It is a good thing I visited last week and can now share a flavour of it with our LabourList readers.

READ MORE: Makerfield voters want Burnham over Starmer in Number 10, poll finds

As I arrived in the constituency on a particularly rainy day (even by the North West’s standards) I was met by one thing immediately. Turning on to the high street in Ashton, it was clear that journalists, cameras, microphones and some familiar faces from the lobby, were everywhere. All of us there for the same thing – to speak with the public and find out what they made of all this.

From the interactions I had, I’d say that the general response was mixed, and probably rightly so. Many commented on how odd it was to have so much media attention on this town. “Centre of the universe!” I heard a few times, always with a slight tone of jest. However, there was certainly a lot of cynicism with regard to this moment from the people of Makerfield.

In towns like Makerfield, many have felt wholly let down by politics for a long time. Whether it is due to scandals that led to mistrust, mishandling of policy or situations that suggested incompetence, or just the overwhelming feeling that, on aggregate, people’s lives are not improving at the rate they might wish, is all up for debate.

Over the last few weeks the people of this constituency have seen their area hurled into the spotlight, after years of feeling neglected by the system. The idea that this unique situation would not prompt any residents’ sceptical eyebrows to rise would be ludicrous.

But that is no reason to be fearful as you knock doors in this area – some of which may admittedly be quite hostile toward Labour. It is in recognising and owning this set of peculiar circumstances that the strongest Labour case can be made. That is exactly what Andy Burnham has been doing throughout this by-election.

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Having lived in the area for many years and even representing parts of it when he was the MP for Leigh (prior to boundary changes), Burnham understood how this campaign had to be run if he wants to make a difference. He has owned the circumstances that Makerfield finds itself in, and the pressure that comes along with that. But he has done so in a wholly positive way.

“No finger pointing.” This is what he told me when I spoke to him on Sunday. For Andy, it is about convincing the people of this town – who would rightfully feel politics has left them behind – that things can be different and can be better. You do not need to attack others to get that message across.

While pursuing the politics of hope and unity, Burnham has also reinvigorated parts of the Labour membership that have been struggling recently. One activist ran over to me at the campaign centre, to tell me about the bus of people who had travelled miles up the motorway in a minibus just to be there and help with the door knocking operation. She told me that in her CLP, things had been stagnant for some time, with a lack of meetings and motivation. Until now.

When you arrive in Makerfield, you will see Reform posters and signs. Unfortunately, you might even see a few Restore ones as well.

But as you head over to Stubshaw Cross, you will also find a Labour Party fighting as hard as it has ever fought for the future of this country. For the politics of hope and unity. A Labour Party, with a Labour candidate fighting ‘For Us.’

Go and be a part of it. Help Makerfield to ‘Vote Hope’ tomorrow. We’ll work out what happens after that, in any scenario, together.

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