<p>It wasn’t so close after all. Andy Burnham achieved 9,241 votes more than the second place Reform candidate, Robert Kenyon. Even talk of Restore Britain stealing votes from Reform mattered little in the end. The reality of the Makerfield by-election is it’s a thumping win for Labour’s Andy Burnham, and a disappointing night for Nigel Farage, whose attempts to dial up division in recent weeks didn’t pay off.</p><br><p>In this bonus episode we react to this week’s two Westminster by-elections where voters in Makerfield and Aberdeen South went to the polls. The latter is an interesting case study of single issue campaigning and a sign of a possible Tory revival in Scotland. We also reveal what our advice to Andy Burnham would be as efforts to oust Keir Starmer from No 10 heat up.</p><p>Find the best clips from the podcast and more from Helen and Cleo on the show's Instagram page <a href="https://instagram.com/intheroom.pod" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><br><p>This podcast is part of The Independent Podcast Network and is produced in association with Next Chapter Studios</p><br><p>Executive Producers: Olivia Foster and Carrie Rose</p><p>Producer: Sam Durham</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>