Kevin Fitzpatrick

But at the local elections two weeks ago, well, Reform UK swept to victory in places like Tameside, in Salford, in Wigan, where the Makerfield constituency is, in places where Labour have dominated for decades.

And if that was repeated come a mayoral election, it would be very interesting to see whether Labour could hang on.

And one final thought on Andy Burnham, he has become this huge figure really in Labour circles.

You'd really have to wonder who on earth Labour could find that would be able to step into the shoes of that seat had he vacated it without the public thinking, right, well, this is a bit of a lower key version.

Yeah, so this is Robert.

He's a local plumber.

And it was a bit amusing to me when Reform announced that he was a plumber and made a big thing of it.

Because you'll remember the Gorton and Denton by-election, Hannah Spencer, the Green candidate who eventually became the MP, she made a big thing about her being a plumber.

And the opposition parties were poo-pooing that really and trying to have a bit of fun with it.

She was also doing a plastering course as well.

But front and centre is the fact that he's a plumber, a local business person.

He was elected as a councillor at the local elections recently.

He also stood as Reform UK's candidate at the general election in 2024.

He's a former army reservist as well.

But it hasn't been smooth running so far.

He was only announced on Wednesday, I think.

He hasn't done any interviews yet.

We're told that will be next week potentially.

But Nigel Farage was up, the first leader...

of any political party to come and visit the constituency.