Young social media activists are helping newly installed Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham outperform Nigel Farage's Reform UK in the online battle for political attention, according to Daily Mail columnist Dan Hodges. A team of influencers, including 19-year-old Ellen Stewart, produce slick, meme-driven content promoting Burnham and his allies across TikTok, Facebook and X, part of an effort to make Labour appear "cool" again after Reform previously dominated online. This matters because social media reach has become a key battleground in British politics, and Reform's apparent slippage coincides with internal turmoil and a rising challenge from a hard-Right rival.

Reform reportedly generated three times as many social media interactions as Labour during the 2024 general election despite being heavily outspent on paid advertising, but Farage's output has since narrowed to defending his own Clacton seat, and the party has largely dropped its Manchester mayoral campaign. Reform recently revamped its social media team, which insiders attribute to alarm over Rupert Lowe's rival party, Restore, eroding its online support. Meanwhile, Burnham's operation is run by Abby Tomlinson, former Labour "head of digital" and founder of the pro-Ed Miliband "Milifans" movement ahead of the 2015 election.