Nigel Farage insisted Makerfield voted to 'get Starmer out' today as he admitted Reform's by-election defeat was 'disappointing'.

The MP pointed to tactical voting against the PM as well as the fact that Andy Burnham is a 'popular local mayor'.  

In a video posted on social media, Mr Farage said while his candidate Rob Kenyon came second the 9,000 majority for Mr Burnham was 'emphatic'.

'What really happened here was it was vote Burnham, get Starmer out,' he said.

Mr Farage blamed Restore splitting the Right for Reform getting 16,000 votes instead of the 18,000 he had expected. 

He said 'a couple of thousand' people who would normally back Reform had ended up going to their rivals. 

In a direct message to those who supported Rupert Lowe's outfit, Mr Farage said: 'What do you want? We are the challenger party to the Left in this country.' 

Mr Burnham won 24,927 votes, which was more than half of the total. It gave him a majority of 9,231 over Mr Kenyon, who had 15,696.

In his victory speech, Mr Burnham - who has been out of the Commons for nine years - teed up an imminent challenge to Sir Keir.

'Everyone can feel that the country isn't where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point,' he said.

'From here on I will give everything I have got to make it so. To ensure the name Makerfield is forever synonymous with bringing about the change this country needs.'

He added: 'I do say to my own party: this is a final chance to change. This is what people said directly to me on the hundreds of doorsteps that I stood on.

'We must hear it, we must act upon it and we must get it right. There will be no second chance.'

But polling guru Sir John Curtice said Mr Burnham's Makerfield victory was not likely to lead to a nationwide surge in Labour's popularity.

Speaking on the BBC, he said: 'Can this be replicated elsewhere? First thing to note, between them the Conservatives, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats got no more than 3 per cent of the vote.

'I think one has to say that there are two crucial elements to Mr Burnham's success. The first is the apparent readiness of those who are minded to vote for parties other than Reform, or indeed Restore Britain, their readiness to fall in and vote for Mr Burnham.

'The second element of Mr Burnham's success is that in a sense he was riding two horses at once. He was both riding as the person who was trying to appeal to the traditional Labour vote … and he was also able to appeal to those who wanted to see the back of Keir Starmer.

'The question you have to ask yourself is when Mr Burnham becomes prime minister, how easy will that trick be to repeat? Because once he's his own man, he's not going to be able to campaign against himself in the way he's campaigned against Keir Starmer.

'Bear in mind the fact that because he is so popular within Manchester, the extent to which his popularity can be extended across the whole of the country.

'All of this is for Mr Burnham to prove – it looks as if he will get the opportunity to prove it but I don't think we should assume that there is going to be suddenly a dramatic change in the standing of the Labour party in the national opinion polls.'