Voters in Makerfield are heading into a by-election with little faith in the people asking for their support. Focus groups run by the New Statesman found residents on both sides of the Reform-Labour contest deeply frustrated with politics, the economy and the Labour government, and unusually engaged for what is usually a mid-term by-election.
That engagement matters because Makerfield is shaping up as a straight fight between Reform and Labour, and the mood inside the groups was not the ordinary drab apathy that often hangs over local contests. One female Reform voter said: “I just feel like maybe my vote could help, it could count.” That sense of a ballot that might matter sat alongside a far darker view of national politics, with Keir Starmer taking a battering from voters across the board.
Some described the prime minister as “useless”, others called him “a joke” or “a liar”. Reform and Labour voters alike said the pace of change since Labour took office has been too slow, and both sides said their own living costs are still going up. A Labour voter put it bluntly: “You can have two people in a household with a relatively well-paid job, but they still can’t afford to go on holiday or anything like that.”
The cost of living was only part of the picture. Voters said working people are being taxed too heavily, while utility companies and corporations are profiteering. On immigration, the groups found broad overlap too, even if Reform voters treated it as more urgent. Some wanted the government to spend less on migrants and more on pensions, a reminder that the arguments often treated as party lines can blur once they reach the doorstep.
That overlap is what makes the Makerfield mood more revealing than a simple Reform-versus-Labour script. The constituency voted 65 per cent to leave the European Union in 2016, but both supporters and opponents of Brexit in the groups said the result has been bad for the country. They were also unsure another referendum would help, or that anyone in charge now would be able to negotiate a good deal. For many, Brexit has become less a settled identity issue than another example of being let down by the political class.
The frustration does not stop at one party. Residents said they feel let down by politicians on the left and the right, and one man who switched from Labour to Reform said: “I’m just scared for what the future holds… I don’t think things are going to get better for us.” That is the mood hanging over the contest now, and it helps explain why a by-election in a north-west constituency can feel more like a verdict on the system than a test of a single candidate.
What remains unknown is whether that anger turns into a decisive swing on polling day. But the focus groups suggest the real contest in Makerfield is not just between Reform and Labour; it is between voters who still want to be heard and a political class they no longer trust to listen.
