Makerfield By - Election. Burnham v Reform

Burnham has to win, the same with Labour in the GM mayor's election, anything else is unthinkable for me.

People need to take a long hard look in the mirror, and decide who was the major advocate of national decline and self harm driven by Brexit?

Anyone thinking of giving the keys to Greater Manchester, and the Country at large, to farage and his gang of far right cronies has a screw loose. Only the rich and farage and his cronies will benefit.

I think it’s still fair to say that many voters still have a concern about immigration, particularly when said immigrants are housed in a hotel on their doorstep.

The Labour Party need to recognise this and start to do something about it if they are going to win back the voters lost to reform.
 
I think it’s still fair to say that many voters still have a concern about immigration, particularly when said immigrants are housed in a hotel on their doorstep.

The Labour Party need to recognise this and start to do something about it if they are going to win back the voters lost to reform.
Totally agree, that's the reason why reform are on the rise. The politicians of this country have been sleepwalking us into a far right disaster, and have been for a long time, without doing anything tangible about it.
 
Is the area 'Flaggy' ?
To an extent. It is also a traditional Labour hot-spot. Burnham is a localish fella and Reform will probably parachute someone from nowhere near in.
I expect the media will push Burnham here as they will want the leadership contest.
There will be a lot of hot air in the interim. But, I fancy Burnham to win easily in the end.
 
To an extent. It is also a traditional Labour hot-spot. Burnham is a localish fella and Reform will probably parachute someone from nowhere near in.
I expect the media will push Burnham here as they will want the leadership contest.
There will be a lot of hot air in the interim. But, I fancy Burnham to win easily in the end.
Interesting the guy who gave up the seat was one of those "Labour together" ghouls. The one who had Paul Holden investigated as he was looking into the funding of said shady outfit. Obviously, not a nice person of friend of the Left. Why would he drop out?
 
It’s a big gambit, to give up a prized Mayoral gig for a local MP gig, in an area where Reform have done very well, the issues that create their support not having been fixed, and with your hopes for voters knowing you’re carpetbagging for a swing at the next job and won’t be around.

Fingers and toes crossed, and all that, but it’s a big bite…beat Reform locally, so you look like you can beat them back nationally, while getting the entire nation up off its arse!

Who’d be a politician, eh?! Especially a Labour politician, whose traditional values and actions look like exacerbating, rather than improving, anything foreseeable.
 
Interesting the guy who gave up the seat was one of those "Labour together" ghouls. The one who had Paul Holden investigated as he was looking into the funding of said shady outfit. Obviously, not a nice person of friend of the Left. Why would he drop out?
Definitely on the right of Labour and aligned to Streeting’s values, I assume that he will be brought back into the government as a spad should Burnham become PM.

Interesting that he had to step down due to the Labour Together issue, seems that he pushed it too far and most certainly told to resign his post.
 
It’s a big gambit, to give up a prized Mayoral gig for a local MP gig, in an area where Reform have done very well, the issues that create their support not having been fixed, and with your hopes for voters knowing you’re carpetbagging for a swing at the next job and won’t be around.

Fingers and toes crossed, and all that, but it’s a big bite…beat Reform locally, so you look like you can beat them back nationally, while getting the entire nation up off its arse!

Who’d be a politician, eh?! Especially a Labour politician, whose traditional values and actions look like exacerbating, rather than improving, anything foreseeable.
Tbf he's giving up the mayor gig for the chance of being PM. He's near certain to be Prime Minister if he wins this seat. May never come around again.
 
I agree that the prize is a good one, and one he has probably lusted, but it’s a big gambit.

It’s only a shame that the PM has to be an MP. Doesn’t make much sense when you are so busy you lose touch with your constituents. In fact, if you become PM, you should have to give up whatever political position you hold in order to do the job.

In this case, it should just be an up or down vote on Starmer vs Burnham, and if Burnham wins, he has to resign the Mayor’s job and Manchester would just have to choose another one.

In this specific instance, Starmer could go back to his constituency, but then the change would make this the last instance of that, too.

Serve one master…country or constituency.
 
I think it’s still fair to say that many voters still have a concern about immigration, particularly when said immigrants are housed in a hotel on their doorstep.

The Labour Party need to recognise this and start to do something about it if they are going to win back the voters lost to reform.
Correct!

I believe the vast majority of voters who say immigration is the main issue really mean illegal immigration not immigration per say. And yes the Labour or Conservative Governments have failed to address this.

I fully support legal immigration and welcome anyone who wants to come here and work legitimately but we cannot be an "open house" for all and sundry to just pitch up and make demands it has to be totally controlled - believe me the first Party that achieves this will reap huge reward in terms of gaining votes and power.
 
Correct!

I believe the vast majority of voters who say immigration is the main issue really mean illegal immigration not immigration per say. And yes the Labour or Conservative Governments have failed to address this.

I fully support legal immigration and welcome anyone who wants to come here and work legitimately but we cannot be an "open house" for all and sundry to just pitch up and make demands it has to be totally controlled - believe me the first Party that achieves this will reap huge reward in terms of gaining votes and power.
I remember when it was the unions to blame for everything so Thatcher smashed them. Then it was public sector inefficiency to blame, so she sold everything off. For many years it was then the Europeans to blame for all our woes and now it’s ’foreigners’ and ‘benefit cheats’.

Let’s assume that Nigel ‘he gave me £5 million as a gift for Brexit’ Farage were to become PM and let’s assume, he not only ‘stops the boats’ but he rounds up all the ‘illegals’ and deports them to who knows where and then he starts drilling…
Do you honestly think that the economy, the NHS, schools, policing, employment, wages, housing costs and energy costs (you know, what everyone is really bothered about) would be better than they are today?
In the highly likely event that nothing improved, other than already vastly wealthy people getting much, much richer, I wonder whose fault it would be next?
 
I think it’s still fair to say that many voters still have a concern about immigration, particularly when said immigrants are housed in a hotel on their doorstep.

The Labour Party need to recognise this and start to do something about it if they are going to win back the voters lost to reform.
Very few voters live near a hotel used for asylum seekers.

And we're heading for net emigration this year.
 
To an extent. It is also a traditional Labour hot-spot. Burnham is a localish fella and Reform will probably parachute someone from nowhere near in.
I expect the media will push Burnham here as they will want the leadership contest.
There will be a lot of hot air in the interim. But, I fancy Burnham to win easily in the end.
If Reform has any sense they'll go with the local Robert Kenyon again. A British army veteran and currently a plumber working for the NHS and recently elected to Wigan Council.
We shall see.
He pretty much ticks all the boxes needed to win and will be very difficult for Burnhsm to beat.
 
Andy Burnham has said:

"I think Britain has been on the wrong path for 40 years, it started de-industrialisation, de-regulation of the buses, privatisation of life's essentials."

If he has a plan to start sorting that out, he’d get my vote.
 
I think his analysis is sound.

Doing something effective about it is, as in the script of Amadeus, 'a challenge', especially within less than three years. It's a job for maybe two decades, and we have a very impatient electorate. No politician has a magic wand, and that's what people really want.
 

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top