The possible nominative determinism of the Makerfield constituency may prove as significant to political historians as it has been a blessing to newspaper sub-editors crafting puns on “Makerfield or Breakerfield”.

The immediate futures of Andy Burnham and Keir Starmer were decided in the historic happening of the first UK byelection to effectively elect a prime minister. It was a battle of our times.

Burnham’s success will make a new administration as it breaks the present one. Prime Minister Starmer’s government has been largely an ineffectual one – of which Burnham, crucially, was not a part.

This may be the moment – “the final chance to change”, as the victorious candidate put it – that transforms the performance and perception of Labour. But it also demonstrates how profoundly, and rapidly, politics in Britain is changing.

Read more: Andy Burnham is back at Westminster: what this says about Britain’s changing political system

Governing parties don’t win byelections, and certainly not on 23-point swings. Burnham’s 54.8% vote share, more than 20 percentage points more than that of Reform UK, was unexpectedly emphatic – a personal triumph.

The momentum behind Reform UK’s leader, Nigel Farage, has if not stalled then noticeably decelerated. A second seat in the north-west that Reform ought to have won this year, it hasn’t – and this time resoundingly.

Much was down to Labour’s exceptional candidate – and Reform’s........

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