𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

If Andy Burnham thinks his ‘new PM bounce’ can spark a Brexit U-turn and march Britain back into Europe, my day in his Ashton-in-Makerfield constituency paints a very different story. Earlier this week, Burnham told MPs he will push for new post-Brexit deals at an upcoming EU summit, wanting “deeper cooperation” – and has hinted at slapping a ‘let’s re-join the EU’ vow on his next general election’s Labour manifesto. But in June this year – in a successful move designed to take down their ailing leader Sir Keir Starmer – a shock by-election in Ashton-in-Makerfield, in Greater Manchester, saw regional mayor Burnham elected their new MP. And having visited his constituency this week, which voted 65 % to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum, if Burnham thinks a Brexit U-turn is the flavour of the month, he’s got another thing coming.

Three damning words summed up everyone’s thoughts that I spoke to in Makerfield on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, whether they love Brexit or eventually want to return to the EU: “Why right now?!” The former coal-mining town near Wigan has voted in a Labour MP in every election for the last 120 years – and voted in Burnham this summer, although many argue serious cross-party tactical voting to keep out Reform and get rid of Starmer was at play.

In 2016, during the referendum, 65% of Ashton-in-Makerfield voters said they wanted to leave the EU, making Andy Burnham’s new constituency the 75th biggest ‘Leave’ seat in the UK. On May 7, 2026, Reform caused shockwaves by winning 24 of the 25 council seats up for grabs in Wigan, Greater Manchester, giving the stunned, dominant Labour Party a bloody nose.

The voting implies that while Burnham is a popular figure due to his long stint as Mayor of Greater Manchester, Labour generally is not popular on the streets of Makerfield. In early June, I visited what was once the ‘Bryn Labour Club’, a 115-year-old local hub with a bar, snooker tables and darts – and a sign by the door that quips: “No D*ckheads!”

But it’s now called ‘Bryn Community Club’ and boasts a Union Jack that proudly flutters outside – and inside, regulars ahead of the by-election told me: “We’re voting Reform UK.” I visited the town’s pubs and bars and all the talk was of their run-down services, lack of jobs, vape shops, the cost-of-living crisis, deprivation, drugs and small-boat crossings.

On Tuesday this week, I returned to Makerfield, and the feelings about a Brexit U-turn were stronger than ever – surprisingly on both sides of the argument. They all felt – with petrol prices sky-high, a soaring benefits bill, rising energy prices, the cost-of-living crisis, stagnating wages, and 1.78 million people unemployed in the UK – that now is simply not the time for a divisive referendum that could split the nation down the middle.

We all remember the debates, demonstrations, protests and negativity sparked from both sides by the referendum that then PM David Cameron offered the UK. We’ve also seen the bitterness and rancour among neighbours and communities in Scotland in their own 2014 referendum to remain a part of the UK.

They say these referendums should be once-in-a-generation votes for a reason, because they spark years of enmity and ill-feeling among communities and pitch friend against friend. Who did not see at the time Facebook friends posting comments like “If you voted for Brexit feel to block me” as the referendum fallout raged across social media?

What is alarming and unsettling is that just three months into a new job as PM, this is what is filling Burnham’s thoughts – when it should be on making Britain better and stronger. On Tuesday, charity worker Joanne Lait, 60, said of a new Brexit vote: “I’m not sure. Why now of all times? He’s only been in the job for three months. People round here are fed-up of politics to be honest.”

While shopper Marian Caldwell, 81, a retired theatre sister nurse, argued: “Labour should be concentrating on helping the poor, those struggling to make ends meet and supporting farmers to grow produce to feed our nation. “Why revisit Brexit now? It makes no sense! It’s simply not the right time. It’s crazy.”

A little common sense goes a long way – maybe Marian should be in 10 Downing Street instead?