Today, we announced our Reform UK candidate for the Makerfield by-election on 18th June.
For Robert Kenyon, representing the area he grew up in in Parliament would be the greatest honour of his life. Unlike every other MP who has sat for Makerfield, Kenyon was actually born in the constituency.
And unlike most of the political class, Kenyon has real life experience. He did an apprenticeship at 18 and is now a self-employed plumber in the local area. He has also served as an army reservist and previously worked for the NHS in Lancashire as a specialist technician. He is not a career politician - he has deep roots in the constituency and knows its people well.
This certainly isn’t the case for Labour’s candidate, Andy Burnham, who would have stood in practically any seat that was going. Burnham cares less about people in Makerfield than he does his own career. For Burnham, Makerfield is a stepping stone - for Kenyon, it’s his home.
This will be Kenyon’s second time running in Makerfield. In the 2024 general election, he stood for Reform UK and came in second, with 32% of the vote. This was a strong result for what has historically been considered one of the strongest Labour safe seats in the country.
Not anymore. In this month’s local elections, Reform UK won every council ward in the Makerfield constituency and took half of the voteshare. Labour, meanwhile, secured barely a quarter of the vote. It may have kept control of Wigan Council, but it lost all 22 seats it was defending.
Like millions of voters across Britain, the constituency of Makerfield has clearly woken up to the fact that Labour has turned its back on hardworking people. Labour no longer speaks for those who get up early, go to work, pay their taxes, and play by the rules. Reform UK is now the only party that truly stands for working people and alarm-clock Britain. And this by-election will prove that.
As Reform UK leader Nigel Farage wrote on X, this will be “The Plucky Plumber taking on Open Borders Burnham”. This will be a battle of David vs Goliath.
For Robert Kenyon, representing the area he grew up in in Parliament would be the greatest honour of his life. Unlike every other MP who has sat for Makerfield, Kenyon was actually born in the constituency.
And unlike most of the political class, Kenyon has real life experience. He did an apprenticeship at 18 and is now a self-employed plumber in the local area. He has also served as an army reservist and previously worked for the NHS in Lancashire as a specialist technician. He is not a career politician - he has deep roots in the constituency and knows its people well.
This certainly isn’t the case for Labour’s candidate, Andy Burnham, who would have stood in practically any seat that was going. Burnham cares less about people in Makerfield than he does his own career. For Burnham, Makerfield is a stepping stone - for Kenyon, it’s his home.
This will be Kenyon’s second time running in Makerfield. In the 2024 general election, he stood for Reform UK and came in second, with 32% of the vote. This was a strong result for what has historically been considered one of the strongest Labour safe seats in the country.
Not anymore. In this month’s local elections, Reform UK won every council ward in the Makerfield constituency and took half of the voteshare. Labour, meanwhile, secured barely a quarter of the vote. It may have kept control of Wigan Council, but it lost all 22 seats it was defending.
Like millions of voters across Britain, the constituency of Makerfield has clearly woken up to the fact that Labour has turned its back on hardworking people. Labour no longer speaks for those who get up early, go to work, pay their taxes, and play by the rules. Reform UK is now the only party that truly stands for working people and alarm-clock Britain. And this by-election will prove that.
As Reform UK leader Nigel Farage wrote on X, this will be “The Plucky Plumber taking on Open Borders Burnham”. This will be a battle of David vs Goliath.
