Nigel Farage has ignited fresh controversy in the battle for Makerfield by posting what appears to be an artificially generated image showing migrants in a dinghy holding placards urging voters to support Andy Burnham. The digitally created image, shared on social media platform X, depicts smiling individuals waving red signs emblazoned with the slogan “Vote Andy For Us” alongside a cartoon rendering of the Greater Manchester mayor. Farage accompanied the provocative post with the caption: “Andy Burnham is for them, not for you. Vote Reform in Makerfield.”
The Reform UK leader’s latest salvo represents an escalation in s against Burnham’s immigration stance, a pivotal issue for voters in the Wigan area parliamentary seat heading to the polls on June 18. Burnham, seeking to return to Westminster after serving as Greater Manchester mayor since 2017, responded with characteristic defiance. “Are you getting desperate, lad? Maybe keep your crypto millions for soing else,” he wrote, referencing the £5 million donation Farage received from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne before the 2024 general election.
Farage doubled down by sharing a screenshot highlighting that the Greater Manchester Combined Authority plans to spend £700,000 assisting refugees in overcoming barriers to housing, welfare and local services. The former UKIP leader declared: “Your scheme will provide housing and benefits to people who came here illegally. I prefer to put the British people first.” These policies reportedly target refugees already granted asylum status, though the distinction has been largely absent from Reform’s s on Burnham’s record.
Immigration has emerged as the defining battleground in this contest, with Reform repeatedly painting Burnham as insufficiently tough on border control. Makerfield sits within the wider Wigan area, which voted approximately 63% in favour of leaving the European Union during the 2016 Brexit referendum. Under sustained pressure, Burnham reversed his previous position calling for the abolition of the no recourse to public funds restriction last week. He has also stated that net migration “needs to fall further” despite official statistics showing UK net migration at 171,000 last year, among the lowest figures recorded this century.
Recent polling by Survation suggests the race remains perilously tight for Labour. Burnham, who represented Leigh from 2001 until 2017 before becoming mayor, leads with 43% support. Reform candidate Robert Kenyon trails by just three percentage points at 40%, a margin well within most surveys’ statistical uncertainty. Businesswoman Rebecca Shepherd, running for Restore UK, has captured 7% of voter intentions, while the Liberal Democrats poll at 4% and the Greens at 3%. Conservative support in the constituency appears to have collapsed almost entirely.
Speculation continues to swirl that Burnham harbours ambitions beyond simply returning to the Commons backbenches. Westminster insiders widely expect him to mount a challenge against sitting Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership should he secure victory on June 18. Such a contest would represent a seismic shift in British politics, pitting two vastly different visions for the centre left against one another at a moment when Reform UK appears to be consolidating support among traditional Labour voters in northern England. The outcome in Makerfield may well determine not just who represents the constituency, but the future trajectory of progressive politics across Britain.
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