[n 2] Burnham stood down following his victory at the 2017 Greater Manchester mayoral election, and was succeeded by the Labour and Co-operative Party's Jo Platt who was MP from 2017 to 2019.

Burnham, who was re-elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester in 2021 with an increased majority, still resides in the Leigh constituency.

[2] Leigh was a marginal seat in the south of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and on the border with Warrington, with virtually all wards held by the Labour Party at local level, although also containing the more Conservative-inclined area of Lowton East.

In line with the wider borough of Wigan it voted by a majority to Leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum, but has slightly lower levels of deprivation than the town of Wigan itself,[3] and is mostly made of skilled working-class families in residential areas, with some light industry, all factors in the swing towards the Conservatives in 2019.

Following the review of parliamentary representation in Greater Manchester in 2009, the Boundary Commission for England recommended alterations to constituencies in the Wigan area.