Results in full as Andy Burnham wins Makerfield by-election

The path to PM has been paved

The by-election in Makerfield, Greater Manchester, was triggered in mid-May after Labour MP Josh Simons stepped down amid discontent in the party.

The idea was to allow current Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham a way back into parliament and take on Keir Starmer in a leadership contest to ultimately become prime minister.

Now, the path has been made clear for Burnham, and it is likely a leadership challenge will soon follow.

A clear Labour win

Seeing the current diverse, political landscape in the UK, initial polls made the vote in Makerfield look like it could be a tightly run race.

Many polls had Burnham winning by only a few points with Restore potentially stopping Reform from coming out on top.

However, the reality was a lot clearer than that.

Labour won 55% of the vote, gathering 24,927 votes while Robert Kenyon of Reform who managed 15,696 votes (34.5%).

Fellow right-wingers Restore were slated to be an issue for Reform, with some claiming they could end up splitting the vote - however, this was far from the case.

The party candidate Rebecca Shepherd managed just 3,111, barely enough to make a small dent in the 9,000 vote gap between Labour and Reform.

The Tories managed 997 votes while the Greens just 308 and the Lib Dems 163.

🚨 BREAKING: Andy Burnham has won the Makerfield by-election

🔴 LAB: 24,937 (+6,725) - 54.8%
➡️ REF: 15,696 (+2,893) - 34.5%
🟣 RES: 3,111 (NEW) - 6.8%
🔵 CON: 997 (-3,382) - 2.2%
🟢 GRN: 308 (-1,468) - 0.7%
🔶 LD: 163 (-2,572) - 0.4%

Changes w/ 2024
58.75% turnout

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 19, 2026

The turnout was 58.75%

How have parties and their leaders responded?

In the immediate wake of his win, Andy Burnham gave his thoughts during his acceptance speech early this morning.

The newly-elected Makerfield MP thanked those who have worked on the election, and his fellow candidates for a "civil debate".

He said: "Everyone knows that politics isn't working, everyone can feel that the country isn't where it should be.

"Tonight could, just could, be the turning point."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Keir Starmer congratulated Burnham on his win on X.

He said: "Congratulations, Andy Burnham, Labour’s new MP for Makerfield.

"Voters chose Labour’s campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate."

Neither Nigel Farage nor Robert Kenyon of Reform are yet to comment on the loss.

Conservatives win in Aberdeen South

While Labour and Burnham stole the limelight in Makerfield, the Conservatives were also picking up seats, winning the by-election for Aberdeen South.

This comes after Stephen Flynn left the House of Commons following his election to the Scottish Parliament.

The Tories won with 14,308 votes to the SNP's 8,258.

Meanwhile, the SNP held their seat in the Arbroath and Broughty Ferry by-election which saw the party get 9,802 votes to the Tories' 4,524 in second.