Andy Burnham been re-elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester with more than 400,000 votes and will remain in office until 2028.
The Labour candidate will now serve a third term after being initially elected in 2017, and again in 2021, holding the position since its inception seven years ago.
Speaking at the count on May 4, Burnham thanked the people of Manchester for their “decency and warmth”.
He said: “I can honestly say I have never given anything less than my all to this job.
“”I am ready to fight harder than I’ve ever fought for anything before for a Greater Manchester where people can live free from the fear of debt, hunger and eviction, and where everyone is set up to be a part of the growing success story that is our city region today.”
The newly re-elected mayor spoke of “rejecting the politics of division and culture wars”, promising to adopt a “place first over party first approach” during his fresh term.
The win comes as the party lost seats across the borough, however, maintained their majority in Bury, with candidates in 12 of the 17 wards retaining their positions of power.
Luthfur Rahman, deputy leader of Manchester City Council, lost his Longsight ward seat by 185 votes to Workers Party councillor Shahbaz Sarwar with a total of 2444 votes to Labour’s 2259.
Kier Starmer, speaking in Blackpool yesterday, conceded that Labour had lost some seats in the nationwide local elections due to their stance on Gaza and Israel.
For the first time, locals had voted for one candidate only for the Mayor of Greater Manchester in a ‘first-past-the-post’ system following a change in the law to end Supplementary Voting in Mayoral Elections.
Other candidates who stood in the mayoral election were:
Laura Evans – Conservative: 68,946 votes (10.4%)
Nick Buckley – Independent: 50,304 votes (7.6%)
Dan Barker – Reform UK: 49,532 votes (7.5%)
Hannah Spencer – Green: 45,905 votes (6.9%)
Jake Austin – Liberal Democrats: 28,195 votes (4.2%)
Burnham’s manifesto focused on three key points around transport, housing and alternative education routes.
The pledges included bringing rail into the newly established Bee Network by integrating eight commuter lines, to become the UK’s first Housing First city-region ‘with a clear mission to end the housing crisis by 2038’ and the introduction of MBacc – Greater Manchester Baccalaureate – to provide a new technical education alternative to the university route.
Other notable points include ‘continuing to resist the introduction of a charging Clean Air Zone’, the introduction of primary care facilities and job centres called Live Well Centres and increasing the number of TravelSafe Support and Enforcement officers on buses and trams.
Burnham introduced the Bee Network in 2023, bringing Greater Manchester buses under local control to create a ‘London-style’ system.
All registered voters from across the Greater Manchester boroughs – Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan – were eligible to vote in the 2024 mayoral election.
The mayor and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) are responsible for many aspects of life in Greater Manchester, such as oversight of policing, the fire and rescue service, transport, housing and Further Education funding.
Images courtesy of Lisa Valentine
