How Burnham’s By-Election Will Transform UK Politics
Novara Live
Novara Media
4.8 • 577 Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2026
⏱️ 63 minutes
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Summary
With the Makerfield by-election starting pistol resonating through Westminster, is Andy Burnham going to be quick out of the blocks? After being barred from standing by his own party mere months ago, to being heralded as the man to keep Reform at bay, we chart the career of the man of the moment.
Plus: We turn to a Development Economics expert to ask: what lessons can the West learn from China’s economic miracle, and could it only happen under authoritarian rule?
With Michael Walker, Banseka Kayembe & Jostein Hauge.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I suppose you say he is one of the men of the moment, Andy Burnham. |
| 0:09.0 | Current Greater Manchester Mayor may well be candidate for Maker Field constituency, should the |
| 0:17.0 | NEC approve it. There he is. |
| 0:20.0 | That was earlier today. The NEC approve it? There he is. That was earlier today. |
| 0:21.5 | The NEC have now approved it. |
| 0:24.5 | Andy Burnham, well, especially we don't yet know. |
| 0:27.1 | He 100% will be the candidate because someone could stand against him and win, but it's |
| 0:30.4 | very unlikely. |
| 0:31.0 | The NEC have basically given him permission to put himself forward to be the Labour candidate in |
| 0:35.8 | the Makerfield by election. |
| 0:38.3 | He needed that permission because he is mayor, and if you are a mayor, the NEC have to provide approval before you can stand as an MP. |
| 0:47.3 | I'm incredibly excited. I don't normally get sort of quite so emotionally engaged on the show, but I feel like this is genuinely a by-election that will make or break British politics, |
| 0:58.9 | potentially for a very long time. |
| 1:00.6 | This is like a general election in a by-election. |
| 1:02.4 | It's like something we haven't seen before or I haven't seen before. |
| 1:06.5 | Banteca Kiambay from Naked Politics is joining me. |
| 1:10.0 | You commented on how I seem a little bit more lively today than usual. It's infectious, I have to say. I think I've caught it a little bit. I came in more cautious and I'm already catching the optimism. What is this feeling? It doesn't feel very familiar to me. Yeah, I mean, optimism is, it's not quite optimism because if he loses, it's kind of over in a way. |
| 1:29.6 | If he can't beat reform in a way no one can. |
| 1:34.0 | We're going to talk about all this. |
| 1:35.1 | We're probably getting ahead of ourselves. |
| 1:36.5 | But stakes very high. |
| 1:38.6 | Talking of high stakes, I also have an interview with Yostein Hauger, |
... |
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