𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

If Prime Minister Andy Burnham thinks he can quietly roll up Brexit and throw it away now he’s PM, he hasn’t accounted for the patriotic residents in his own constituency. Last weekend, Burnham hinted he was keen on closer ties with the EU and even freedom of movement although he admitted he would need a new referendum. Ashton-in-Makerfield, near Wigan, has had a Labour MP for 120 years and voted for Mayor of Greater Manchester Burnham as their new MP in a June by-election, as floating voters backed him to get rid of PM Sir Keir Starmer. On Tuesday I visited the former coal-mining town to test the temperature on the streets regarding a potential Brexit U-turn, as constituents there voted 65% in favour of leaving the EU in 2016.

Some slammed the ‘back-door’ way he snuck into 10 Downing Street to become our prime minister without a general election. But the appetite for another EU referendum was definitely not there. One raging OAP told me Burnham could even face a “revolt” on the streets of his constituency if he was to try to reverse the democratic ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ 2016 vote.

And the idea that free movement could result in millions of people now living on mainland Europe being able to legally enter Britain filled many locals with dread. Yet despite these fears, the overriding concern among Makerfield residents was not our relationship with the EU but their town’s ailing High Street, their closed library, the cost-of-living crisis, the price at the pumps and the nation’s 1.7 million unemployed.

While some Makerfield Brexit voters may have since changed their mind – after seeing how successive governments have failed to fully implement it – many are just as passionate about leaving the EU as they were a decade ago. One of those was retired Greater Manchester Police officer John Pagett, 68, who we met in Costa Coffee, in the always busy Gerard Shopping Centre at the heart of the town.

He felt Burnham even being prime minister was an “affront to democracy” in the first place but feared that opening borders and allowing free movement could put our creaking and bloated benefits system under even more strain. In a devastating broadside at the fledgling PM, he fumed: “Andy Burnham can’t lie straight in bed. I don’t believe a word he says. In fact I think the way he came into Downing Street as PM, and now this EU idea, are affronts to democracy.

“I have a police pension and my state pension but I am finding things tough with the cost of living and bills going up. Burnham should concentrate on that rather than worrying about closer ties to the EU. It was supposed to be a once-in-a-generation referendum – not a once-every-10-years referendum.”

While even stronger words came from another constituent, 70 year-old grandmother-of-three Linda who was incandescent with rage when the Express suggested Burnham wanted a Brexit U-turn. Asking us to withhold her surname, she exploded: “I have been furious seeing the boats packed with young men from war zones landing on the beaches of Dover. What if we had free movement? There could be millions.

“Labour want free movement because they are addicted to cheap labour but how will that help the young people of this country ever find a job? It’s a disgrace. I never voted for Burnham and if he pushes something like this through I hope he could have a revolt on his hands and be out on his backside in the next general election.”

Best friends Kerry Curson, 38, and Yasmin Ratcliffe, 39, work together at Rose’s Café in Makerfield. Yasmin said: “We’ve only just had a by-election here and that saw people pitted against each other – Labour and Reform – and I don’t want another big vote.” Married co-worker Kerry pitched in from behind the counter and a stack of delicious-looking slices of lemon drizzle cake. She quipped: “Another referendum? No thanks!”

The normally staunch-left Wigan Council, that oversees Makerfield, has just 38 Labour councillors while Reform UK have 25 … for now. There is local by-election in mid-November that Reform are confident of also winning. On 7th May Reform caused shockwaves by winning 24 of the 25 council seats up for grabs in Wigan, giving the stunned, dominant Labour Party a bloody nose.

When Burnham won his seat in Makerfield – many Tory, Lib Dem or Green voters who wanted Keir Starmer gone all voted for Labour, but at a future general election they won’t do that again.

Makerfield feels like a bubbling cauldron under Burnham’s throne, and he may not even know it’s there. If he tries to rejoin the EU, it could explode right under his nose.