Labour has claimed a by-election win in Wigan's Hindley Green ward, with local figures crediting a "Burnham bounce" for the result. John Vickers took the seat on Thursday (November 12), six months after Labour lost 25 seats in a row in Wigan at the local elections.
Those losses prompted Andy Burnham, then Greater Manchester mayor, to stand in a Parliamentary by-election in Makerfield, part of Wigan. After seeing off Reform UK in the June contest, he was named Labour leader and Prime Minister in July, replacing Keir Starmer.
Voters Return to Labour
Reflecting on the result, Cllr Vickers acknowledged that Burnham's earlier win in Makerfield "had a lot to do with tonight". He said: "People were disillusioned in May and what happened on June 18 certainly put a lot of faith back in people who had perhaps decided that the Labour Party was not going in the right direction."
Reform UK figures locally also acknowledged "momentum maybe seems to be with Labour now, after the Burnham bounce", but vowed the party would come back stronger. He added: "I'm still confident that in May 2027 Reform UK will take control of Wigan council. The voter turnout was 26 percent tonight, in May it was 39 percent."
Labour Holds in Oldham
Labour remains in control of Wigan council, with 43 councillors to Reform's 25. In another Greater Manchester by-election, Reform held on to a seat in Oldham, but the Labour vote share doubled from May's local elections.
Reform won the Failworth West seat with 41.5 percent of the vote, with Labour second on 38.8 percent. Labour saw a 21 percent increase from May's results.
Winning Cllr Chris Baddeley said: "I'm feeling very happy but I wouldn't have got here without the councillors that have been helping me and the other helpers that have been helping doing the canvassing and the leafleting. This is where the hard work starts."
Labour's leader in Oldham, Cllr Arooj Shah, said: "We leafletted and people really spoke and it's obvious they've got their hope and faith back in Labour. I think that has got a lot to do with Andy Burnham but also [candidate] Pete [Davis] and his record in the area has really paid off. This used to be a comfortable seat for Labour and we lost profoundly in May so for us it is a success."
