Greens suggest they will properly contest byelection in blow for Burnham

The Greens are going to campaign for the upcoming Makerfield byelection, complicating Andy Burnham’s potential route back to parliament against what is expected to be a strong Reform UK challenge.

A statement from the Greens said candidate selection was in process, and that the party had learned from its win in another Greater Manchester seat in February, when they overcame a 13,000 Labour majority in Gorton and Denton.

Labour has a smaller majority of just over 5,000 in Makerfield, where Reform came second in the 2024 election. The sitting MP, Josh Simons, announced on Thursday that he would stand down, saying he wanted Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, to replace him.

Burnham has said he will seek the Labour nomination, and while the decision is for the party’s national executive committee (NEC), which blocked him from fighting Gorton and Denton, Downing Street has indicated it will allow him to contest Makerfield.

With Reform having won all nine seats being contested for the constituency on Wigan council in local elections last week, Burnham is gambling that his personal appeal will counteract Labour’s poor national poll ratings and take him to a win.

There had been speculation the Greens might either not field a candidate in Makerfield or barely contest it, to avoid splitting the leftwing vote and letting Reform in.

One possible mooted deal would have been to stand down if Burnham agreed to look at electoral reform if he became prime minister, something he has already indicted he might do.

But in a statement on Friday morning, a Green spokesperson said: “We are looking forward to the campaign. We’ve learnt from our campaigning and wins in Gorton and Denton and the recent local elections, and we’ve shown we can beat Reform.

“We’re a democratic party and our local members choose their candidates. We have already started the candidate selection process for any potential byelection in Makerfield.”

The Greens are highly decentralised, meaning that even if the leadership wanted to stand aside, it would be up to the local party.

One Green source in Greater Manchester said that while the local party would have to make its own decision, much would depend on whether the weight of the national organisation was put behind the campaign: “With Gorton and Denton we showed that the national party operation focusing on an area can make a pretty monumental difference.”