‘Hope is in the air,’ says Burnham at campaign launch
Andy Burnham has welcomed supporters at his campaign launch, telling them “this means the world to me”.
“Hope is in the air, can you feel it?” he said.
“This is not business as usual. This is not more of the same … British politics is tired. It needs a new script. And over the next four weeks, the people of Makerfield are going to write that script.”
Key events
Andy Burnham launches byelection campaign
Andy Burnham is speaking at the official launch of his campaign for the Makerfield byelection. You can watch live below or on top of the page (you may need to refresh for the video to appear) as we bring you the updates:
PA has reported a number of Labour MPs are at Burnham’s campaign launch, including Jonathan Reynolds, Kim Johnson, Barry Gardiner, Ian Byrne, Chris Webb and Rebecca Long-Bailey.
Also showing their support are Liverpool metro mayor Steve Rotheram and interim leader of Welsh Labour Ken Skates.
While we wait for Andy Burnham to arrive at the official launch of his campaign as Labour’s candidate for the Makerfield byelection, here are some newswire pictures from Stubshaw Cross Community and Sports Club in Ashton-in-Makerfield.
UK borrows more than forecast in April as inflation adds to benefits bill
Richard Partington
The UK borrowed more than expected in April as high inflation drove up the cost of pensions and benefits, amid concern over the Iran war and political uncertainty adding to debt costs.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing – the difference between government spending and income – was £24.3bn in April 2026, £4.9bn higher than in April 2025.
Amid bond market jitters over the Middle East conflict and a Labour leadership challenge, the figure was £3.4bn higher than forecast by City economists and the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Rising borrowing costs on financial markets drove the UK’s debt interest payments to £10.3bn in April, £900m more than a year ago and the highest in any April on record.
Grant Fitzner, the ONS chief economist, said: “Borrowing this month was substantially higher than in April last year and although receipts increased compared with April 2025, this was more than offset by higher spending on benefits and other costs.”
Read more here:
Over in Sweden, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper has joined other officials at a Nato summit in Helsingborg.
Also attending the foreign ministers meeting are US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte.
Ahead of the summit, officials expressed bewilderment at Donald Trump’s decision to deploy 5,000 US troops to Poland after he had previously announced he would be pulling out 5,000 soldiers from Germany.
“It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,” Swedish foreign minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters.
US officials are apparently equally perplexed. One official told Reuters: “We just spent the better part of two weeks reacting to the first announcement. We don’t know what this means either.”
For more, head over to the Europe live blog where my colleague Jakub Krupa is reporting the latest updates:
Andy Burnham to launch Makerfield byelection campaign as Green candidate quits
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics.
Andy Burnham is set to officially launch his campaign as the Labour candidate in the Makerfield byelection this morning, as he seeks a return to parliament after nine years.
Also this morning, the Greens have re-opened its candidate selection process for the byelection after Chris Kennedy pulled out less than 12 hours after being announced as the party’s candidate.
We should be hearing from Burnham from about 10.45am for the official launch, although he has already been pictured out and about canvassing in the Greater Manchester constituency this week.
He is widely expected to challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership if he becomes an MP, but the prime minister has said he will be out campaigning in support of Burnham ahead of the vote on 18 June.
“Yes, and I’ve said to the whole Labour movement that I want everybody to be involved in the campaign, whatever other discussions are going on, it’s really important – that’s a straight fight between Labour and Reform,” Starmer said.
Meanwhile, Kennedy, the Green’s candidate for the byelection, withdrew from the ballot nine hours after being announced, with the party citing “personal and family reasons”.
The Times reported it had approached Kennedy about a series of social media posts he had shared about an attack on Jewish ambulances in north London in April. An Instagram video shared by Kennedy described the arrests of two men over the incident as “total bullshit to keep the false flag flying”, the paper reported.
Read the full report here:
In other news, the Guardian’s business reporter Lauren Almeida reports UK government borrowing hit its second-highest level for April on record, as pressure on public finances continues to grow. There was a £24.3bn deficit in the UK’s finances last month, official figures showed. For more, follow our business live blog here.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/may/22/andy-burnham-makerfield-byelection-green-labour-starmer-latest-news-updates
About the Author
