Game on: All eyes on Makerfield by-election

Andy Burnham running for the Makerfield by-election has become far more than a contest for a safe Labour seat. It is being seen as a proxy battle over Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership, Labour’s direction after its bruising local election results, and even whether Reform UK can break permanently into Labour’s northern heartlands. Host Lucy Fisher is joined by George Parker, political editor, Robert Shrimsley, UK chief political commentator, and Jen Williams, northern England correspondent to discuss the latest developments. The team also examines the economic offerings and political positioning of the prospective Labour leadership contenders Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting. Follow: Lucy @LOS_Fisher or @ lucyfisher.ft.com ; George Parker @GeorgeWParker ; Robert Shrimsley @robertshrimsley ; Jennifer Williams @JenWilliams Want more? How will Andy Burnham pay for his plans for the UK? What version of Manchesterism is Andy Burnham offering? Wes Streeting floats ‘wealth tax’ in bid to woo Labour left Wes Streeting: the confident performer with a mixed record of reform Greens consider helping Labour’s Andy Burnham in Makerfield by-election Reeves cuts food tariffs and children’s bus fares in cost of living plan You can also sign up here for Stephen Bush’s morning newsletter Inside Politics for straight-talking insight into the stories that matter, plus puns and tongue (mostly) in cheek views. Get 30 days free. Political Fix was presented by Lucy Fisher and produced by Nisha Patel and Persis Love. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound engineering by Breen Turner. The broadcast engineers are Andrew Georgiades and Bianca Wakeman. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s global head of audio. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can listen to Game on: All eyes on Makerfield by-election online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Game on: All eyes on Makerfield by-election is an episode from FT Politics by Financial Times.

This episode is 45:24 long.

This episode was published on May 22, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from FT Politics when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.