LIVE: Starmer leaves out the back of Downing Street after congratulating Burnham on his Makerfield by-election glory

Thank you for reading.

Read the full story on the by-election by Asher McShane here.

Labour is “obsessed” with internal party “drama” Kemi Badenoch said, as she challenged Sir Keir Starmer and his ministers to instead focus on issues such as energy and national security.

The Conservative leader also said her party’s dramatic by-election win in Aberdeen South “sent a message” in favour of more drilling in the North Sea – and she called for the controversial Jackdaw and Rosebank developments to be given the go-ahead.

She said a green light for the projects would boost the UK’s national security, insisting the UK needs to “drill our own oil in the North Sea, not take oil from Russia”.

She also claimed the win helped show the Tories are a “credible alternative to take over from Labour” at the next general election.

Andy Burnham is expected to waste little time in challenging Sir Keir Starmer for Labour leadership.

Burnham is now an MP, which means that he can challenge Sir Keir Starmer for Labour leadership, but he is required to have the backing of at least 81 of his party MPs - 20% of their Commons make-up.

He would also be required to have the support of 5% of all local branches or at least three party-affiliated groups - two of which must be trade unions. 

If Mr Burnham achieved this, a run-off against Sir Keir would be confirmed, and it would be up to the Labour Party when to hold it. The prime minister's name would automatically be on the ballot. 

Read the full story from William Mata here.

Andy Burnham's success today at the Makerfield by-election was a seismic victory over Reform candidate, Rob Kenyon, securing 55% of votes.

But who are the people behind Mr Burnham's success in Makerfield?

Louise Haigh - Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley since 2015. She was Secretary of State for Transport between July and November 2024. She is a member of the Tribune group at Parliament which describes itself as centre left.

Anneliese Midgley - Labour MP for Knowsley since 2024; she was director of Unite the Union before becoming an MP.

Lucy Powell - Labour Co-op MP for Manchester Central since 2012. She was Leader of the House of Commons from July 2024 to September 2025. 

Ed Miliband - Labour MP for Doncaster North since 2005. He is the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. 

Neal Lawson - head of Compass, which describes itself as a Labour Party ideas pressure group. 

There is no vacancy in No 10, Downing Street said as it refused to be drawn on whether any ministerial resignations should be expected on Friday.

Asked whether there was a vacancy for the Prime Minister’s job, his official spokesman said: “No, I think the Prime Minister’s been very clear this morning.”

Asked whether any ministerial resignations should be expected on Friday, the official said: “The Prime Minister is very much getting on with the business of delivering his Government’s agenda, the agenda that stabilised the economy, that’s invested in public services and brought down waiting lists.”

Sir Keir has been “crystal clear for some time now” that he intends to fight any challenge to his leadership, No 10 said.

Andy Burnham has said the Home Office must change course after hearing repeated concerns on the doorstep about the fairness of the immigration system.

He said people were frustrated by what he described as a “cut-price approach to procurement”, which he argued had left some areas feeling treated unfairly and "feeling like HMO Britain".

Burnham said: “These are the kind of changes that we need if we are to give hope to young people growing up in this part of the world.”

He added that local people would always do “the decent thing” and “the compassionate thing”, but said they should not be expected to accept arrangements they see as unfair.

Rupert Lowe MP, leader of Restore Britain, today praised his party's performance in the by-election.

They received 3,111 votes which is 6.8% of the vote.