The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has taken time out of campaign to become the MP for Makerfield to give his backing to another by-election candidate.
Mr Burnham filmed a video endorsement for Philip Berman, the Labour candidate in the by-election in Goldsmid ward for a seat on Brighton and Hove City Council.
The local Labour Party posted the video yesterday, with polling day today (Thursday 18 June) in the Makerfield by-election – and with a week to go in Goldsmid.
If Mr Burnham wins, he is expected to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the leadership of the Labour Party and the job of Prime Minister.
The Goldsmid by-election might seem less consequential, given the Labour majority on the council. But the main contenders, Labour and the Greens, are likely to take it as an indicator of voter sentiment, with local elections due next May.
And Reform UK will also be looking for signs of traction in an area where Labour, the Greens and Conservatives have each won seats in the ward and run the council over the past 20 years.
Mr Burnham, nicknamed the King of the North, said that he knew all about the “great work” being done by the council in Brighton and Hove, adding: “We’re great admirers of everything you do in Brighton.”
Mr Berman said: “It’s great to get an endorsement from someone like Andy Burnham who knows the value of local services and has been doing remarkable things in Greater Manchester.
“He recognises what Labour have been doing in Brighton and Hove on housing, cost of living and climate.
“And I’m standing here in my local Goldsmid ward in Hove because this city deserves a councillor who will build on that record with ambition and urgency, not just maintain it.”
Polling day in Goldsmid is next Thursday (25 June), with postal voting already under way.
The by-election was called after the resignation of former councillor Jackie O’Quinn who represented the ward for 11 years.
The other candidates are Louis Bird (Conservative), Nadia Barton Ahmad (Green), Kim Leyland-Walker (Liberal Democrat), Luke Willmoth (Reform UK) and Glenn Kelly (Trade Union and Socialist Coalition).
Taking time out of a crucial MP election to support a tiddly little Councillor by-election to elect a replacement Councillor for 11 months in a seaside city nearly 300 miles away?
How to broadcast there is a crisis in the Labour Party without broadcasting there is a crisis in the Labour Party.
He shouldn’t even know about the Goldsmid Councillor by-election.
Why shouldn’t he? If he’s positioning himself for a leadership bid it won’t do any harm to know what is going on at any level.
Nigel, Kemi, Kier, Rupert and and Ed have all done the same thing recently and sent endorsements or turned up themselves to support their own candidates in other local areas.
Elections are important, there’s whole websites dedicated to tracking them. And hey, Andy (and the others) spending a few minutes out of his clearly busy day to offer a few supportive words can only be positive.
I really hope people wake up and see Andy Burnham and Labour for what they are.
Andy doesn’t live in Brighton and Hove to see how it has deteriorated under Labour and Greens. Has he even been recently. I have lived here off and on for over 80 years and now wish I didnt. I would like to see Reform a chance to do better than endless cycle lanes, vanity projects which have all failed
Can’t imagine cycle lanes are of particular interest to you these days? So what about the excellent bus service the main routes are rarely more than a few minutes wait?
Speaking of vanity projects, which isn’t really a term that means anything, Madeira terraces are coming along nicely, aren’t they?
Brighton and Hove City Council is a complete failure.
Apart from all the things it is successful at. More to do? Certainly.
He was probably told by Angela Rayner. If Starmer goes then Kyle might be out of a job and deselected making way for Angela Rayner just like what happened to LRM in Kemptown.
Or he could be planting his own flag in Brighton and Hove if Kyle goes.
Kiss of death…..
Having helped the Conservative Team delivering leaflets in Goldsmid Ward – what was once a Hove, prime, pristine area – boy it needs a scrub, clean, weeding & some TLC. Will it get that under Labour/Greens? I think we all know the answer.
I’ve seen a lot of Labour councillors getting out there and scrubbing, cleaning, weeding, and giving their areas some TLC. Meanwhile, I’ve seen you spend your time taking photos and pointing at things and asking Labour to fix various aspects, which I am sure they have been happy to do.
That comment also demerits all the good community action that happens in Hove, often as volunteers – they do it for love of their city, especially thinking about groups like The Barn (That’s in your ward, by the way). How do you think it feels to them when their hard work is described in such a negative way, just for political points by a party that orchestrated it’s own political irrelevance?
You want a better Hove? Problem with mudslinging, Ivan, is that you end up with mud everywhere!
We are told we are one of the wealthiest countries in the world yet the more council tax we pay, the less we get for it. Explain that Benjamin. Do we pay Council Tax or do we all become volunteers running our own DIY services and cleaning our own city? And don’t talk about cuts when we see £millions wasted all around us daily on pointless and unwanted projects. Even the 1970s when most families were single-income enjoyed a cleaner, prettier and better Brighton and Hove than we see today. Labour is failing us and Ms Sankey, like Mr Burnham, is more interested in her own ambitions.
Unfortunately Tracy, you’re once again venturing into the realms of false nostalgia, misplaced causality, scapegoating and selective focus. I also want to be clear about your misrepresentation; community action should be acknowledged, not dismissed for political gain, and it doesn’t replace council services.
A simple answer to your question is we are also a deeply unequal society, which is very much the focus of change for progressive parties. Ones that focus on building more social homes, for example, as rent is the main driver of personal financial constraints, so much so that is how we define poverty. Our previous right-wing government did very little on this front, which has created the issues you’re describing.
And to bring that to local Labour, since you mention it, have a look at their current house building record right now, their buy-backs, their circumventing pilot to prevent RTB loses, their focus on improving landlord standards, their rapid bringing down on the backlog, graffiti removal programmes, waste amnesty projects, and ongoing work to improve waste and recycling collections.
All of those are indicators of just one aspect of our current successful Labour council.