Labour EU row deepens as Burnham eyes Makerfield comeback bid

Labour’s Brexit argument is back at the centre of the party’s power struggle, with Andy Burnham’s planned route back to Westminster through Makerfield turning Europe into a live test of Keir Starmer’s leadership and Labour’s electoral instincts.

Burnham has been cleared by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee to stand in the selection process for the Makerfield by-election, expected in June 2026, with 18 June widely reported as the likely polling day. The move follows Josh Simons’s decision to resign the seat to make way for Burnham, opening a contest that could hand the Greater Manchester mayor a return to Parliament and, potentially, a platform for a leadership challenge.

The seat is not a routine Labour hold. In the 2024 general election, Simons won Makerfield for Labour with a majority of 5,399, taking 45.2% of the vote against Reform’s 31.8%. The constituency had an electorate of about 76,845 and turnout of 52.4%, figures that underline how hard-fought the seat already is. Makerfield voted Leave in the 2016 referendum, making any renewed talk of Europe politically delicate in an area where Brexit still carries weight.

That sensitivity has only sharpened after Reform’s surge. The party won all eight council seats in the Makerfield constituency in the 2026 local elections, reportedly with more than 50% of the vote and in higher-than-usual turnout. For Labour, that result has turned Makerfield into a warning as much as an opportunity: a working-class northern seat where the party’s margin is thin enough to expose any split between metropolitan pro-European instincts and voters who backed Brexit.

Starmer has been trying to make closer ties with Europe part of his government’s direction after the local-election setback, but the issue is now dividing the field of possible challengers. Wes Streeting has said he would stand in any Labour leadership contest and has called for Britain to rejoin the EU. Reports say Burnham is also expected to seek a mandate to rejoin, or at least move much closer to the EU, if he returns to Westminster.

That leaves Labour confronting the same question it has never fully escaped: how to talk about Europe without reopening the fault lines that still shape its coalition. Recent analysis has suggested the party’s current halfway-house approach offers no clear electoral advantage, and Makerfield may soon show whether Labour can finally settle the issue or whether Brexit remains the easiest weapon in an internal fight.