Makerfield voters are giving Burnham the benefit of the doubt. If he fails, the consequences will be grave | Owen Jones

Winning this byelection wouldn’t make Reform disappear. Would Burnham really have the courage needed to see them off in No 10? ‘Well, good,” says a middle-aged woman outside Boots about the prospect of millions of migrants being deported. “Because we want the country safe.” I point out that, even as immigration has risen sharply for the last two decades, by every measure – murder rates, or numbers of people admitted to hospitals because of knife attacks and assaults – violence has fallen stee...

By Owen Jones in Makerfield