One party has more to gain than any other when Moorside heads to the polls next week
With placards and press on every corner, it’s hard to escape the political storm that has descended on Greater Manchester in recent weeks.
Perhaps the most significant by-election in history, next week will see the Wigan constituency of Makerfield go to the polls in a vote that could decide not just their next MP but potentially also the UK’s next Prime Minister.
The campaign has stolen the headlines for weeks with activists, MPs and political commentators descending on the area from all areas of the country. It has also been fraught with controversy, from accusations of sexism aimed at Reform’s Robert Kenyon to claims Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is simply using the area as a ‘stepping stone’ to further his own ambitions.
Click here for our dedicated Makerfield by-election newsletter with exclusive interviews and analysis
But Makerfield residents are not the only ones tasked with picking their next political representative next week.
Around a 45 minute drive away, residents in Moorside ward, to the north of Bury, will also be heading to the polls on June 18. The election will fill the final seat on Bury council.
While most of the borough voted in early May, the Moorside vote had to be postponed after Reform candidate Victor Hagan died suddenly shortly after nominations were announced. The outcome will perhaps not be quite as seismic as the Makerfield vote promises to be, but the election does have the potential to shape the direction of Bury politics – and one party has more to gain than any other.
If Reform UK’s Alan Derby beats Labour to the seat, the result will cement the group as the official opposition party on Bury council. This would be a huge leap forward for the party which, before this year, had just one councillor sitting on the authority.
Currently, Reform UK and Radcliffe First are joint opposition with six elected members each.
But, walking the streets of Moorside, you would be hard pressed to tell anything out of the ordinary was happening there at all. Compared to the endless array of posters, banners and boards lining the streets and windows of Makerfield, I spotted just seven as I walked around the ward this week.
The majority of these backed Labour’s Sandra Walmsley, who is hoping to be re-elected to her council seat. Two bright blue Reform UK posters were also present, and one window declared support for the Workers Party of Britain candidate, Yasin Aamer.
Residents also seemed less engaged with the process than those out in Makerfield. The majority of the people I stopped to chat with told me they either knew nothing about the election, knew but were not planning to vote, or were going to vote but did not know next to which candidate’s name they would be putting their cross.
- Join our new Makerfield by-election WhatsApp community by clicking this link for the latest news. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
One lady on a smoke break at work told me she did not think it was worth her time to vote, saying she feels all parties ‘say they’ll do this and that, and then do nothing’.
A middle-aged couple out in the rain said they normally vote for the Conservatives but, with an increase in voting for alternative parties, were looking at other options this time around. For them, the Greens were a possibility as they felt that could bring a more varied opposition to the authority.
Tactical voting could also play a part in this election. Some younger voters said they would be casting their vote not for a particular party, but against Reform UK.
When I asked midwife Jane Penketh, 35, for whom she was planning to vote, her answer was ‘definitely not Reform’. When I asked why, she said: “Because I’m not racist.”
The new mum added: “I probably will vote for Labour. Probably tactically, it’ll be either them or Greens, but I think it will probably be Labour.”
However, 77-year-old Bruce Herdman told me he would be voting Labour because of Coun Walmsley’s record in the ward. He said: “She’s been a long-standing councillor, and she’s done quite a lot of good work for the area.”
Mr Herman is a life-long Labour supporter and a retired Bury council worker. He added he does not like Reform UK, saying: “They [wider party members] hide behind the smart words of Nigel Farage. He’s the face of reasonableness, but a lot of people in the party are not there to support reasonable positions.”
Despite the distance between the two areas, events over in Makerfield are also having an impact on Moorside residents. Both Ms Penketh and Mr Herdman made reference to them when speaking to me.
For Ms Penketh, goings on over the Wigan constituency appear to have helped cement her view on Reform UK. She said: “I don’t believe in what they say about women and pregnant women in particular. I’m very scared, really, for my baby and what the future’s going to hold.”
I asked if she was referring to comments allegedly made by Robert Kenyon about women – including commenting on a sexually explicit post about Carol Vorderman and saying women get abortions for ‘vanity purposes’ and ‘can’t ref, drive or give directions’. She confirmed that she was.
Mr Herman spoke instead of Andy Burnham and his chances of becoming PM. He said: “He’s done a good job with Greater Manchester. He’s well regarded […]
“He’s done some good things. Wasted quite a bit of money on the congestion charge, a lot of that stuff went up for no reason, cameras, signs, but apart from that, I think he’s well regarded.”
Reform UK’s message is cutting through with some in the ward, however. One gentleman, who did not want to give his name, said he would be voting for the party because he agrees with their stance on key issues.
These include, he said, immigration, small boats and what he described as ‘two-tier everything’.
The Bury branch of the party told me they were ‘very, very optimistic’ about their chances next week. Spokesman for the local group Councillor Shadman Zaman told me he was out canvassing in the ward this week and claimed, of the around 35 doors he knocked on, perhaps 25 said they would be voting Reform.
He added: “It’s been overwhelmingly positive. Alan is a local guy and people seem to connect with him. The funniest thing is he knows so many people in the area. Whenever we are opening the door, people are telling us ‘oh, I went to school with him’, especially people his age. People know his wife as well.”
Councillor Zaman said he does believe the election is a ‘two-horse race’ based on the conversations he has had on the doorsteps but he does not think the group’s main competition is Labour. He believes it will be the Workers Party of Britain.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service attempted to speak to Labour candidate Sandra Walmsley to get her views on the election.
“I think people are just fed up of Labour,” Coin Zaman continued. “People are just fed up of Labour, and people want an alternative. People want change.”
The Workers Party holds one seat on the council currently after taking Redvales in May.
Conversations I have with residents in the run up to an election normally bring standard complaints and concerns over bins collections, potholes and a general lack of maintenance to the fore of conversation. These are often complemented by gripes over how much they pay in council tax.
But out in Moorside, people struggled to come up with an answer when I asked them if there was anything they wanted to see change in the ward – though one gentleman did have a brief rant about a tree in front of his property that was causing him problems and how he was struggling to get action from the council to solve this.
In fact, Bury’s Labour group did fare well in May’s election compared to the huge losses experienced by the party elsewhere in Greater Manchester and across the country. Following the vote, Labour has 30 councillors, down one, and continues to have enough seats to keep their majority.
The ruling administration has put their success partly down to tangible works around the borough, including multi-million pound regeneration projects are underway in Prestwich and at Bury Market and £30m of investment planned for local roads.
The Moorside vote will take place on Thursday, May 18. Six candidates will be running for the seat.
These are:
- Jill Budgen – Bury Independents
- Alan Derby – Reform UK
- Jihyun Park – The Conservative Party Candidate
- Conor William Craig Priestley – The Green Party
- Sandra Walmsley – The Labour Party
- Yasin Aamer – Workers Party of Britain
You must be logged in to post a comment Login