Danny Kruger blames 'stop Reform agenda' for Makerfield by-election loss

Mr Burnham secured 55 per cent of the vote, comfortably beating Reform candidate Robert Kenyon’s 35 per cent.

Nevertheless, Mr Kruger insisted it was “brilliant that we did as well as we did”.

“I'm encouraged that so many people think that we should have won. I really hoped we would," he said.

“We were in with a shot. It was a close-fought race."

The Reform MP then claimed there had been a concerted effort to hamper the party’s efforts to win the Labour stronghold.

“We've learned the power of a quite organised media campaign to try and stop the Reform Party getting its message across," he said.

Danny Kruger has blamed a 'stop Reform agenda' for the party’s Makefield by-election loss

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“We suffered a lot of criticism of our candidate, I think, completely unfairly.

“There was a very strong stop Reform agenda in the mainstream media, which drove support for our opponents.”

Mr Kruger claimed Reform was “up against a very, very concerted and well-organised political opposition, as is natural when we are the main challenger party".

Continuing his analysis of Reform’s loss, the MP said traditional Labour support in Makefield had always made flipping the seat a difficult prospect.

'We've learned the power of a quite organised media campaign to try and stop the Reform Party getting its message across,' Danny Kruger said

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“Let's face facts, this is a Labour seat. It has been for 100 years, since the beginning of the Labour Party.”

He added Mr Burnham’s expected leadership challenge against Sir Keir compelled a coalition of voters seeking to oust the Prime Minister.

“They had on top of that all the people who just wanted to see the back of Keir Starmer. People I have every sympathy with," he said of Labour's campaign.

“So they had a very natural advantage."

Andy Burnham secured 55 per cent of the vote, comfortably beating Reform candidate Robert Kenyon’s 35 per cent

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The Reform MP also addressed the performance of Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain, which finished third with 7 per cent of the vote.

“What they've done is very successfully mobilised a large number of people online to support them.

“Naturally, in a very high-profile by-election like this, insurgent parties do well,” he said, adding that Reform was “now one of the mainstream parties of this country".

“What's regrettable about Restore is that everything that they say, more or less… their core message is a reform one,” Mr Kruger stated.