Just a few thousand small-town voters are about to decide Britain’s future

ASHTON-IN-MAKERFIELD, England — The future leadership of the British government will be shaped in the next 24 hours by just a few thousand voters living in a cluster of former mining communities who hate nothing more than getting stuck, as they often do, in a traffic jam.

The constituency of Makerfield in north-western England holds a special election on Thursday to choose a new Member of Parliament, with Labour candidate Andy Burnham — a local son now serving as mayor of Greater Manchester — the favorite to win. If he does, he has vowed to challenge the U.K.’s unpopular Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the party leadership, and the premiership. 

When POLITICO asked Makerfield residents what was the worst thing about living in the area, as they prepared to take part in the most consequential by-election in living memory, they tended to give the same answer: Gridlock on the local roads.

“We need more money invested in the town,” said Peter Cain, a local butcher in Ashton-in-Makerfield. “The traffic system into the town center, it just can’t cope.” 

The traffic is just one example of what many British voters feel is a degradation in the quality of their lives for which politicians must take the blame. The Makerfield election comes at a time of widespread disillusionment among British voters who are weary after a decade of political upheaval following Brexit. Since 2016, the country has held three general elections and been governed by six prime ministers, one of whom lasted just 49 days in office. 

Starmer has only been in power for less than two years, but has recorded some of the worst poll ratings of any leader in British history — and his Labour Party has suffered a series of historic defeats at regional and local elections.