TWIN imperatives are driving British politics today – the need to block the possibility of a far-right government centred around Reform UK, and despair and disgust at the performance of Keir Starmer’s Labour administration.

As things stand today, the next general election would be dominated by those sentiments. Both are reflections of the underlying crisis in British capitalist society, which has been in a state of stagnation and decay since the 2008 crash at least.

Westminster politics has since been dominated by the attempt to put Humpty back together again, to make the neoliberalism which created the crash functional once more. Starmer has been billed as “centrism’s last chance,” while Nigel Farage is, beneath the populist veneer, an unreconstructed Thatcherite with added authoritarianism.

How to develop an alternative to the Establishment choice of far-right rule or bankrupt continuity centrism is the key challenge facing the left. That alternative must first of all be built in the communities and workplaces, around a united front of the anti-war, anti-austerity and anti-racist movements, within which the trade unions must play a much more prominent role.

But it is also the issue on polling day, too – in local and parliamentary by-elections. There the tactical expression of anti-Reform and anti-Starmer politics will differ from one circumstance to another.

In the Gorton & Denton by-election in Manchester earlier this year, this paper called for a vote for the Green Party after Starmer had vetoed the possibility of Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham standing as Labour’s candidate.

We were delighted that Hannah Spencer was able to prevail in a seat Reform was tipped to win.

In nearby Makerfield, which chooses a new MP on June 18, the calculations are different. Reform is even better placed in this former mining area, having won every ward in the recent borough elections.

This despite having a candidate who has expressed odious views on social media, particularly in relation to women.

The Green Party has much less support in Makerfield and has, sensibly, chosen to run a more-or-less paper campaign.

And this time Burnham is the Labour candidate, the Prime Minister now lacking the authority to impose any more vetoes.

There is no need to be starry-eyed about Burnham’s politics. He has been a chameleon over his career and there is less to his much-touted “Manchesterism” than meets the eye. We hold no illusions as to how he might govern as premier.

However, he is clearly the only candidate in Makerfield who can beat Reform, according to every poll. And he has made it clear that, once back in the Commons, he will seek to bring Starmer’s miserable leadership to an end.

He is thus both the anti-Farage and anti-Starmer candidate all in one. His campaign appears to be stressing his local credentials and popularity at the expense of his Labour affiliation.

Should he win it will be a massive setback for Reform, which depends on success in seats like Makerfield to maintain its political momentum. Nobody should underrate the importance of beating it.

However, it will not obviate the need for mass action to confront its racism and reactionary agenda, since in few constituencies will they face as popular and high-profile an opponent as Burnham.

A Burnham victory would also be the beginning of the end for Starmer’s premiership. It will open up the possibility – no more than that – of a new orientation for the Labour government, which desperately needs to embrace a progressive agenda over the three years before the next general election must be held. The contest itself would provide opportunities to put pressure on the Westminster bubble from without.

Given all these considerations, in Makerfield the Star unequivocally advocates a vote for Andy Burnham, the Labour candidate.