Greens pick Sarah Wakefield for Makerfield by-election challenge

The Green Party has turned to Sarah Wakefield, a Manchester City Council councillor and mother of two young children, to fight the Makerfield by-election after its first candidate, Chris Kennedy, withdrew. Her selection puts the party’s local base and its handling of candidate turmoil under a sharper spotlight, as the contest heads for Thursday 18 June 2026.

Wakefield said it was “vital in a democracy that voters are given a choice of who they want to vote for.” The Greens have wrapped her candidacy in a protest message, with Wakefield adding: “Don’t vote in anger, vote in hope.” Party leader Zack Polanski has cast the race as a test of whether the Greens can make economic and environmental arguments cut through in a seat that is drawing national attention for other reasons.

That attention is being pulled largely by Labour’s Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor who is seeking a return to Parliament, and Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon. The latest Survation polling for The Times and Sunday Times, based on fieldwork carried out from 18 to 22 May 2026, put Burnham on 43% and Kenyon on 40%, with Wakefield on 3%. In the same poll, Rebecca Shepherd of Restore Britain was on 7%, Jake Austin of the Liberal Democrats on 4%, and Michael Winstanley of the Conservatives on 2%.

The Makerfield contest has also been shaped by the circumstances around the Green nomination itself. Kennedy was first presented as a nurse and children’s safeguarding specialist, but later withdrew. The Greens said that happened for “personal and family reasons”, while reports said he had shared social media posts about an alleged attack on Jewish ambulances in north London before deleting them and apologising.

For the Greens, the race is as much about positioning as winning. Polanski said the by-election was about “who is making the case for lower bills, warmer and more affordable homes and a greener and fairer economy,” and he pointed to the party’s showing in Gorton and Denton as evidence that it can beat Reform UK. That is the opening Wakefield is being asked to exploit in Makerfield, where Labour won the 2024 general election with 45.2% of the vote and Reform finished second on 31.8%, making the seat one of the clearest Labour-Reform marginals in the country.

Other confirmed candidates include Peter Ward for Rejoin EU, Dan Clarke for the Libertarian Party and Alan “Howlin” Laud Hope for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party. But the central question remains whether Wakefield’s arrival can turn Green organisation into a credible protest vote, or whether the party is simply trying to stay visible in a contest still dominated by Labour and Reform.