Labour has just released this statement from Lucy Powell, the party’s deputy leader (and a friend and supporter of Andy Burnham’s), about the campaign. She said:
double quotation markOur great candidate, Andy Burnham, and our fantastic Labour team have run a positive campaign focused on the people of the Makerfield constituency.
We knew this would be a tough fight, given Reform did so well here just a few weeks ago, but the Labour movement came together to show we are well up for that fight. While it will be some hours before we know the result, I want to say a huge thank you to the hundreds and hundreds of activists and volunteers who have helped with this campaign. Together, we’ve spoken to a record number of residents and shared our Labour message of hope and optimism.
Labour will continue working every day for the people of this country, putting our values into action and delivering the fairer future communities want to see.
It is hard to read much into this, but if the party was expecting to lose, there would be rather more about the “tough fight” in the statement.
The line about speaking to a “record number of residents” is no idle boast. Earlier my colleague Jessica Elgot posted these about the campaign effort today.
double quotation markNever seen anything like this as a Labour ground operation. 120 contacts a minute, three campaign centres, 3000 activists.
At 6.30pm, two activists told me there is “no one left to knock.”