The latest opinion poll in the Ashton in Makerfield by election puts Andy Burnham four percentage points ahead of Robert Kenyon for Reform UK
The polling by Opinium–Forward puts Labour on 46 per cent with Reform UK on 41 per cent and Restore on 7 per cent
The lead though is within the five per cent margin of error for polling which suggests that Thursday’s by election result could be too close to call
A second poll says Andy Burnham has a 12% lead iahead of Reform with Greens in 3rd place ahead of Restore.
Tom de Grunwald, founder of Forward Democracy and StopReformUK.Vote said: “If you live in Makerfield and you would normally vote Green, Liberal Democrat, or anyone else, and you don’t want Reform UK to win this seat, the maths is clear: Andy Burnham is the only candidate who can stop them.”
James Crouch, head of policy & public affairs research at Opinium said: “Andy Burnham enters the final week of the Makerfield by-election campaign ahead, but narrowly so. Labour’s five-point lead is smaller than Restore Britain’s current vote share, suggesting that a divided anti-Labour vote may be enough to deliver victory this time, but could leave Burnham vulnerable in future general elections.”
However there are suggestions that a better candidate for Reform may have made a diiference
One report says a Reform MP said that they’ve given up on Makerfield.
“An absolute sh*t candidate and no real understanding of how to tackle a by-election”.
Meanwhile Andy Burnham has pledged to keep the state pension triple lock if he becomes Prime Minister
In an interview with the i paper he said “the manifesto commitment holds” and tearing it up would be a “very damaging thing to do”
