Inside the by-election that could change UK politics
6/10/202641 min
Next week will see one of the most consequential by-elections in UK political history. Journalists, pollsters and politicians are swamping the small market town near Wigan - where the voters of Makerfield could make Burnham king.
At the time of recording, Labour are 10 points ahead of Reform in the polls. To close the gap, Reform must win a battle of ideas on the right, where Restore Britain are currently polling at 8%. In this episode, Helen and Cleo discuss what happens if Burnham actually wins - will he become prime minister any time soon? And is Keir Starmer really in ‘legacy mode’?
Find the best clips from the podcast and more from Helen and Cleo on the show's Instagram page here.
This podcast is part of The Independent Podcast Network and is produced in association with Next Chapter Studios
Executive Producers: Olivia Foster and Carrie Rose
Producer: Sam Durham
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsCleo Watson· Host0:00
He has said he's going to fight any leadership contest that comes up, by the way, so good luck to him.
Helen MacNamara· Host0:05
What this means in practice is pretty wild. The really big question is, can Andy beat Reform?
Cleo Watson· Host0:10
[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome back to In The Room. Now, before we get started, we'd love it if you followed us on Instagram for the best bits of the show. Our handle there is @intheroom.pod.
Helen MacNamara· Host0:24
You can also watch us on YouTube. Our channel is called In the Room Politics. And if you've got a burning question, or you just want to send us some fan mail, or there's something you'd like us to address on the pod, then you can email us on intheroom@independent.co.uk. We've really enjoyed your messages so far. Thank you so much.
Cleo Watson· Host0:41
I don't know about you, but from the outside anyway, it feels like things have really quietened down since a few weeks ago when nearly 100 Labor MPs said that they'd lost confidence in the Prime Minister. Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, resigned, uh, which sort of happened over the King's Speech in quite a fraught way. And everyone was saying, you know, the Prime Minister's gone, and we were in this kind of fiery fury center of everything being doom and gloom for Keir Starmer, but it doesn't really feel like that now.
Helen MacNamara· Host1:11
No, you're right. It feels a bit more like business as usual. So we've got Keir Starmer's been hosting Zelensky again, um, and European leaders. So we've had lots of flags outside Downing Street, and this week we had the Prime Minister out and about making his usual junior ministerial level announcements, this time at Tech Week. Uh- Burn.