Starmer rival Burnham wins by-election in ‘final chance to change’ UK Labour

By AFP 19 June 2026, 5:44 am

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Labour party's Andy Burnham speaks after winning the Makerfield by-election, paving the way for a leadership challenge against Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. in Wigan, England, June 19, 2026.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

Veteran UK Labour politician Andy Burnham tells his ruling party that his emphatic by-election win was “a final chance to change,” ahead of a widely expected leadership challenge against Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“I do say to my own party, this is a final chance to change,” Burnham says in his acceptance speech after easily beating the hard-right Reform UK party’s candidate in the Makerfield constituency in northwest England.

“This is what people said directly to me on the hundreds of doorsteps that I stood on, we must hear it, we must act upon it, and we must get it right.”