‘Hope is in the air,’ says Burnham at campaign launch
Andy Burnham has welcomed supporters at his campaign launch, telling them “this means the world to me”.
“Hope is in the air, can you feel it?” he said.
“This is not business as usual. This is not more of the same … British politics is tired. It needs a new script. And over the next four weeks, the people of Makerfield are going to write that script.”
Key events
Liberal Democrats announce Makerfield byelection candidate
Burnham has finished his speech, just as we get an announcement from the Liberal Democrats on their candidate for the Makerfield byelection.
Stockport councillor Jake Austin will stand for the party. He was born in the constituency and contested the Greater Manchester mayoral election against Burnham in 2024, coming sixth, according to PA.
Austin said:
I’m thrilled to have been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Makerfield.
Voters in Makerfield deserve so much more than the failing Labour government or the divisive politics of Reform UK.
We have a real opportunity to champion the issues that matter most to people: the cost of living, protecting our natural environment and supporting our local high streets and businesses.
Burnham: ‘A vote for me is a vote to change Labour’
Continuing on the theme of change, Burnham said a vote for him in the Makerfield byelection is “a vote to change Labour”.
I know my own party needs to change. We need to be better than we’ve been. We’ve not been good enough. And I want to leave people in no doubt today, a vote for me in this byelection campaign is a vote to change Labour.
He hailed the successes of Greater Manchester and Liverpool since he left Westminster in 2017.
We’ve stood side by side, making the argument for something better for the north-west, through the devolved power that we have got and that we hold together.
And in those ten years we have built a new politics. We’ve worked on a place first basis, rather than party first. We’ve focused on problem solving rather than point scoring. And you know what? When you do that and you work differently, it’s amazing what you can achieve, isn’t it?
On transport, Burnham says “I like my buses” (they were taken back under public control in Greater Manchester in 2023) but he was woeful about the cost of rail journeys.
£364 is the cost of an anytime return from Wigan North Western to London Euston. So how can people here connect with the capital and all of the opportunities it’s got, if they cannot afford those train fares? We need to use rail re-nationalisation to reduce those train fares and make them affordable to people again.
Burnham said the Makerfield byelection is a “clarion call for change”.
A lot of change, according to the Greater Manchester mayor.
Change to the economy, change to education, change to housing, change to transport, change to care, and yes, to make it all possible. Change to politics.
Burnham has spoken about his connections to the local area, saying his home is just 2 miles from where he is speaking.
“I love it so much that I brought my own family up here, I live here, I have lived here for 25 years,’ he said. “My home is 2 miles over there. I could walk to this campaign centre.”
He talked about how the area has struggled with poverty, rising costs and unemployment.
We’ve had 40 years of policies that have hurt the high streets of this constituency, 40 years of policies that have left people struggling to afford the everyday basics of their lives. Policies that took away the good jobs that were once in these communities and have not done anything to replace them or put them back.
‘Hope is in the air,’ says Burnham at campaign launch
Andy Burnham has welcomed supporters at his campaign launch, telling them “this means the world to me”.
“Hope is in the air, can you feel it?” he said.
“This is not business as usual. This is not more of the same … British politics is tired. It needs a new script. And over the next four weeks, the people of Makerfield are going to write that script.”
Andy Burnham launches byelection campaign
Andy Burnham is speaking at the official launch of his campaign for the Makerfield byelection. You can watch live below or on top of the page (you may need to refresh for the video to appear) as we bring you the updates:
PA has reported a number of Labour MPs are at Burnham’s campaign launch, including Jonathan Reynolds, Kim Johnson, Barry Gardiner, Ian Byrne, Chris Webb and Rebecca Long-Bailey.
Also showing their support are Liverpool metro mayor Steve Rotheram and interim leader of Welsh Labour Ken Skates.
While we wait for Andy Burnham to arrive at the official launch of his campaign as Labour’s candidate for the Makerfield byelection, here are some newswire pictures from Stubshaw Cross Community and Sports Club in Ashton-in-Makerfield.
UK borrows more than forecast in April as inflation adds to benefits bill
Richard Partington
The UK borrowed more than expected in April as high inflation drove up the cost of pensions and benefits, amid concern over the Iran war and political uncertainty adding to debt costs.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing – the difference between government spending and income – was £24.3bn in April 2026, £4.9bn higher than in April 2025.
Amid bond market jitters over the Middle East conflict and a Labour leadership challenge, the figure was £3.4bn higher than forecast by City economists and the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Rising borrowing costs on financial markets drove the UK’s debt interest payments to £10.3bn in April, £900m more than a year ago and the highest in any April on record.
Grant Fitzner, the ONS chief economist, said: “Borrowing this month was substantially higher than in April last year and although receipts increased compared with April 2025, this was more than offset by higher spending on benefits and other costs.”
Read more here:
Over in Sweden, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper has joined other officials at a Nato summit in Helsingborg.
Also attending the foreign ministers meeting are US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte.
Ahead of the summit, officials expressed bewilderment at Donald Trump’s decision to deploy 5,000 US troops to Poland after he had previously announced he would be pulling out 5,000 soldiers from Germany.
“It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,” Swedish foreign minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters.
US officials are apparently equally perplexed. One official told Reuters: “We just spent the better part of two weeks reacting to the first announcement. We don’t know what this means either.”
For more, head over to the Europe live blog where my colleague Jakub Krupa is reporting the latest updates:
Andy Burnham to launch Makerfield byelection campaign as Green candidate quits
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics.
Andy Burnham is set to officially launch his campaign as the Labour candidate in the Makerfield byelection this morning, as he seeks a return to parliament after nine years.
Also this morning, the Greens have re-opened its candidate selection process for the byelection after Chris Kennedy pulled out less than 12 hours after being announced as the party’s candidate.
We should be hearing from Burnham from about 10.45am for the official launch, although he has already been pictured out and about canvassing in the Greater Manchester constituency this week.
He is widely expected to challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership if he becomes an MP, but the prime minister has said he will be out campaigning in support of Burnham ahead of the vote on 18 June.
“Yes, and I’ve said to the whole Labour movement that I want everybody to be involved in the campaign, whatever other discussions are going on, it’s really important – that’s a straight fight between Labour and Reform,” Starmer said.
Meanwhile, Kennedy, the Green’s candidate for the byelection, withdrew from the ballot nine hours after being announced, with the party citing “personal and family reasons”.
The Times reported it had approached Kennedy about a series of social media posts he had shared about an attack on Jewish ambulances in north London in April. An Instagram video shared by Kennedy described the arrests of two men over the incident as “total bullshit to keep the false flag flying”, the paper reported.
Read the full report here:
In other news, the Guardian’s business reporter Lauren Almeida reports UK government borrowing hit its second-highest level for April on record, as pressure on public finances continues to grow. There was a £24.3bn deficit in the UK’s finances last month, official figures showed. For more, follow our business live blog here.
