Game on: All eyes on Makerfield by-election
Political Fix
Financial Times
4.2 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2026
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Andy Burnham running for the Makerfield by-election has become far more than a contest for a safe Labour seat. It is being seen as a proxy battle over Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership, Labour’s direction after its bruising local election results, and even whether Reform UK can break permanently into Labour’s northern heartlands. Host Lucy Fisher is joined by George Parker, political editor, Robert Shrimsley, UK chief political commentator, and Jen Williams, northern England correspondent to discuss the latest developments. The team also examines the economic offerings and political positioning of the prospective Labour leadership contenders Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting.
Follow: Lucy @LOS_Fisher or @lucyfisher.ft.com; George Parker @GeorgeWParker ; Robert Shrimsley @robertshrimsley ; Jennifer Williams @JenWilliams
Want more?
How will Andy Burnham pay for his plans for the UK?
What version of Manchesterism is Andy Burnham offering?
Wes Streeting floats ‘wealth tax’ in bid to woo Labour left
Wes Streeting: the confident performer with a mixed record of reform
Greens consider helping Labour’s Andy Burnham in Makerfield by-election
Reeves cuts food tariffs and children’s bus fares in cost of living plan
You can also sign up here for Stephen Bush’s morning newsletter Inside Politics for straight-talking insight into the stories that matter, plus puns and tongue (mostly) in cheek views. Get 30 days free.
Political Fix was presented by Lucy Fisher and produced by Nisha Patel and Persis Love. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound engineering by Breen Turner. The broadcast engineers are Andrew Georgiades and Bianca Wakeman. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s global head of audio.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It's gearing up to be the by-election of all by-elections and the stakes for labour could not be higher. |
| 0:09.3 | Welcome to political fix from the Financial Times with me, Lucy Fisher. |
| 0:13.6 | We've now got a date for the Makerfield by-election. It's June the 18th. |
| 0:18.0 | And Andy Burner is facing a brutal contest in what is one of Reform's fastest |
| 0:22.6 | growing battlegrounds. If he wins, Labor could be looking at their next PM, and if he loses, |
| 0:28.6 | all bets are off. With me to discuss it all is George Parker, our political editor. Hi, George. |
| 0:34.6 | Hi, Lucy. And Robert Shrimsley, Chief Political Commentator. Hi, Robert. |
| 0:40.7 | Hello, Lucy. And down the line from Manchester is Jen Williams, our northern correspondent. |
| 0:45.6 | Hi, Lucy. In a moment, more on the economic platforms and policies of those vying for the Labour leadership and the chancellorship. |
| 0:57.4 | But first, let's just talk about what we know regarding the Makerfield by-election. |
| 1:02.2 | Jen, you live in Manchester, you've been out on the ground in Makerfield. |
| 1:06.7 | Tell us a bit more about what you're picking up on the ground. |
| 1:10.0 | The day after it emerged that Josh Simons, who is the sitting MP, |
| 1:14.8 | was going to stand down effectively to provide Andy Burnham with a path to number 10, |
| 1:18.8 | hopefully from his point of view. |
| 1:20.9 | I went to the town of Ashton and Makerfield, |
| 1:23.8 | which is one of the kind of main towns in the constituency. |
| 1:27.0 | And I think what was really striking |
| 1:28.8 | about it, I'm sure you've all done by election voxbox spots before where you kind of come away |
| 1:34.1 | thinking, I'm not really quite sure what that mood was. Like certainly during Gorton and Denton, |
| 1:39.5 | it was, it was really quite hard to gauge, which was then borne out in the result, let's be honest. |
| 1:45.0 | I mean, the vibe was very strongly, we like Andy Burnham. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 15 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Financial Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Financial Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.