About

makerfieldbyelection.co.uk is an independent voter-information project for the 2026 Makerfield by-election. It is not affiliated with any political party, candidate, or campaign. The site is run by a UK-based developer with no electoral involvement and no financial interest in the result.

What this site covers

• Candidates: a current list of confirmed and prospective candidates, updated as parties announce their selections and as the official Statement of Persons Nominated is published by Wigan Council.
• How to vote: polling station guidance, voter ID rules, and the key deadlines for registering, postal and proxy votes.
• Polls and predictions: a snapshot of where the race stands, including market consensus and links to widely-read free sources.
• Result: a live result page that updates as wards declare on the night of Thursday 18 June 2026.

Editorial stance

The site aims to be factually accurate and politically neutral. Candidate bios stick to verifiable career and background information. Editorial commentary describes the dynamics of the race without advocating for any candidate or party.

Pieces are unsigned and presented as project output rather than personal opinion. Where a claim is contested or uncertain, we say so.

How the site is built

The site is a static site built with Astro and hosted on Cloudflare Pages. The full source is in the project repository. We use Cloudflare Web Analytics for traffic measurement; it is privacy-respecting and does not set cookies. See the privacy page for details.

Where the data comes from

• Election dates and the official timetable: derived from the writ moved in the House of Commons on Tuesday 19 May 2026 and published by the Electoral Commission.
• Candidate selections: party press releases and reporting by BBC News, ITV Granada, Wigan Today and others; cross-checked against the Wikipedia article on the by-election.
• Constituency baseline (2024 general election result, electorate, ward boundaries): Wikipedia and the House of Commons Library.
• Polling station locations: Wigan Council (linked from the how to vote page).

Corrections

If you find a factual error, please get in touch via the contact page. Corrections are made promptly and the correction itself is logged in the project repository.

Independence

The site carries no betting or gambling affiliate links. Future revenue, if any, is expected to come from contextual display advertising and from an email newsletter that is also independent of any party or campaign. We will continue to disclose any commercial relationship on this page.