Labour has been accused of using people as political pawns in an engineered by-election created to get Andy Burnham back into Parliament. Michael Winstanley, the Conservative Party candidate, vowed to keep "fighting socialism" as he took aim at wannabe Prime Minister Andy Burnham in an interview with the Daily Express.
Conservative Candidate Defiant Despite Low Polling
A former Mayor of Wigan, Mr Winstanley struck a defiant tone despite polling that currently puts him on a meagre 1 per cent in the seat.
"Whenever you stand for election you do it with the intention of winning," he told this paper in a cafe in Ashton-in-Makerfield. "I have been fighting socialism and the Labour Party all my political life, here in this constituency, and I am not going to give up now."
Voters Resentful Over By-Election
Mr Winstanley said voters were "quite resentful" that the by-election had been called at all. The ballot was triggered less than two years after Labour's Josh Simons won the seat only to stand aside for Mr Burnham.
The Makerfield local said: "This has been created to solve an internal problem within the Labour Party, and people in Makerfield are feeling like they are political pawns in this game." He pointed out that Mr Burnham had always insisted being Mayor of Manchester was his dream job.
Polling Shows Burnham Leading
A recent survey placed Mr Burnham on 49%, Reform's Robert Kenyon on 39% and the Conservative on just 1%. But Mr Winstanley, who first stood in the seat back in 1997, insisted his campaign was rooted in the area. He is promising "an authentic Makerfield voice in Parliament" with a plan focused on "regenerating the high streets, cutting crime and antisocial behaviour and cutting congestion and getting off the back of the motorists".
Mr Winstanley, who has served on Wigan Council for a total of 17 years, is well-regarded within Conservative ranks.
Party Chairman Backs Candidate
Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: "Michael has been fighting for Makerfield his whole life. He is local to his bootstraps, he understands the damage socialism does to working towns and he will be a brilliant voice for this community in Parliament." Mr Hollinrake added that he wanted the job "to improve the lives of the people of Makerfield, not simply use them as a convenient stepping stone on the way to high office".
Reform UK Claims Two-Horse Race
But Reform UK insisted the Tories could not win, with a spokesman saying: "This by-election is a clear two-horse race between Labour and Reform. A vote for anyone other than Reform is a vote to deliver Open Borders Burnham into No 10 and enact his hard left, anti-Brexit and pro-immigration agenda."
Mr Burnham told the Manchester Evening News he intended to change a "politics that isn't working for the people of Makerfield." Voters in Makerfield go to the polls on Thursday, June 18.
