‘King of the North’ Burnham wins seat, setting up challenge to UK’s Starmer

Labour mayor Andy Burnham cleared a path to ousting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after decisively winning a parliamentary seat in northern England on Friday, in what could be the most consequential local election in more than six decades.

Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor nicknamed the “King of the North”, won the contest in Makerfield in northwest England with 54.8 per cent of the vote, while the candidate for Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party came second with 34.5 per cent.

His victory means he would now be able to trigger ‌or take part in a contest to replace Starmer, struggling with some of the worst popularity ratings of any leader. But the key question is when and how Burnham would do it.

In his victory speech, Burnham said the result could be a “turning point” for British politics and told his party that this was a final chance to change direction.

“We must hear it, we must act upon it, and we must get it right,” he said. “There will be no second chance.”

Burnham, a career politician who has expressed support for the nationalisation of key public services and criticised what he called four decades of failed neo-liberal economics, has said he would seek to replace Starmer and change politics.