𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A gardener in Andy Burnham’s by-election constituency told us he’s become a Reform UK councillor – to give his hometown and three young, autistic boys a future. On May 7, 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.

Wigan includes the former coal mining town of Ashton-in-Makerfield, held by a Labour MP for exactly 120 years – a tradition Andy Burnham’s hoping to continue. But married Liam Clarke, 30, said his childhood home feels broken because Labour takes its votes for granted, motivating him to switch from cutting hedges to chopping back Labour’s huge lead.

And chatting to the Express over a coffee in Ashton’s Caledonian pub, he said within days of starting his new job last month, he was bombarded with pleas from desperate residents claiming they had been ignored by Labour.

Married Liam – who has three young autistic sons, two ‘nonverbal’ so cannot talk – said his family inspired him to try to give the younger generation hope once again.

Questioning Andy Burnham’s motives for standing, he explained: “He’s the Greater Manchester Mayor as far as I’m concerned, I don’t think he’s ever given a second thought to Makerfield until right now.

“I don’t know if he thinks he’s going to be the prevailing hero and try to save us all but we are a really disenfranchised town. We have some of the poorest people in the UK.

“We need someone who actually cares about the local area, rather than just using it as a stepping stone to get to Westminster.”

Revealing how residents feel let down by decades of Labour, Liam said: “We’re an old mining town and the industry has been ripped out.

“People are struggling to find meaning and work because nothing replaced the mines. The only industry we have now here is Turkish barbers.

“I know a lot of people personally who are struggling just to get by every day.”

Liam said he has known poverty himself growing up, but he does not feel it has got any better.

He added: “I grew up on a council estate in a council house – a family struggling. It’s only in the last couple of years I’ve managed to drag myself into the situation to help others.

“My main passions are to help the local SEN (Special Educational Needs) support for children and young adults and fix the area’s drug problem.

“There’s a drug problem here because some people are grinding. Without hope some use drugs to self-medicate. It’s so sad because there’s a lot of smart people here.

“That’s what the current political system has done to people. It’s brainwashed them so they don’t see a way out – then drug gangs are profiteering off people’s depression and hopelessness.”

Since his mid-20s, Christian and entrepreneur Liam has tried his hand at a new, self-taught challenge every year to expand his experience and look for ways to provide for his family in Ashton-in-Makerfield.

He ran a computer repair business, then sold his 28-year-old wife Bonnie’s crocheted, knitted clothes – after that, the couple organised caravan holidays before he most recently became a gardener.

Explaining his shock switch now to politics, he added: “It seems surreal, but things needed to change around here.

“I was talking to my wife about the state of the country, at church our pastor talked about how you need to stand up and fight for what you believe in. So, that night, I went home and applied to be a local councillor.”

Hailing his Wigan Reform UK councillor colleagues, who all joined in May, Liam remarked: “We are all from different backgrounds – one of us is a self-employed handyman, one is in IT, and another is a nuclear engineer!”

Reform UK’s candidate taking on Andy Burnham to be the Ashton-in-Makerfield MP is Rob Kenyon – one of Liam’s fellow Wigan councillors and a self-employed plumber.

Stressing concerns he has found from voters on the doorstep, Liam told us illegal or mass immigration is still one of the biggest.

He added: “Our housing can be cheaper than elsewhere and they’re turning some family homes into HMOs so people are concerned as they don’t know who’s moving in next to them.”

Detailing his first few weeks as Reform UK councillor for Hindley Green, Liam said he was shocked by all the requests for help.

He said: “I put a message on Facebook to announce myself as a new councillor and was inundated with hundreds of messages for help.

“It took me a couple of weeks to get through them all. They were local issues like people struggling with the support systems of adult social care and child social care.

“I think there has been Labour complacency here. Labour see Wigan as a safe seat, so thought they were always going to get re-elected.”

After speaking to Liam, the Express wanted to attend a media press conference with Labour candidate Andy Burnham – but his staff refused to let us inside.

When Mr Burnham left, having spoken to Labour-supporting media, he refused to answer our questions and we were later informed that he would be too busy to be interviewed by us until after the by-election.