Andy Burnham Falls to Net -11 Ahead of Makerfield By Election
Andy Burnham’s favourability has fallen to a net -11 as he moves toward a likely return to Parliament through the makerfield by election. The latest polling shows 30% of Britons like him and 41% dislike him, with his standing sliding after the middle of May.
That latest figure follows a peak of +9 in earlier polls in the same series. Among Labour voters, the share with a negative view has risen by eight points to 22%, a shift that landed during the same period as the Labour revolt against Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting’s resignation.
Makerfield and the mid-May split
Josh Simons stepped down in Makerfield, triggering the by-election Burnham is likely to win. His decline in favourability started in the middle of May, when the party revolt against Starmer overlapped with Streeting’s exit and the Makerfield vacancy.
Burnham’s numbers now sit below the point at which he began this period. The latest poll leaves him with more people viewing him unfavourably than favourably, even as the election path in Makerfield appears open to him.
Wes Streeting's ratings
The same polling run shows movement against Streeting as well. After he resigned as health secretary on 14 May, 16% of Britons viewed him favourably and 44% unfavourably in the first poll after his departure.
In the latest poll, those figures stand at 12% favourable and 50% unfavourable among Britons. Among 2024 Labour voters, favourable views of Streeting fell from 28% before his resignation to 21% a week later, while unfavourable views rose from 37% to 51%; in the latest poll, Labour voters are split at 20% positive and 46% negative.
Zack Polanski polling shift
The wider polling series also captured a change for Zack Polanski. Before the Golders Green stabbing, his negative rating hovered around 40%, then rose to 47% after he retweeted a post criticising the police response, before peaking at 50% by mid-May.
For Burnham, the immediate question is how much of the slide reflects that same mid-May rupture and how much persists into the by-election period. The current numbers leave him ahead of a return to Westminster, but with a weaker public position than he held earlier in the series.
