Labour retains the Manchester mayoralty

Bev Craig has won the Manchester mayoralty, retaining the seat for Labour with 66.3 per cent of the vote in the Greater Manchester by-election.

This was the biggest by-election in British history, with more than 2 million eligible voters. Turnout was 25 per cent. The by-election was triggered after the now Prime Minister, Andy Burnham stepped down on 18 June after winning the Makerfield by-election. Craig won a total of 309,525 votes, though her vote share was lower than Burnham’s in 2021 (67 per cent).

Craig is the leader of Manchester City Council and worked closely with Burnham when he was Manchester mayor. She was his deputy for regeneration and growth. Speaking to the New Statesman on the eve of polling, Craig said her election would be a “unique opportunity” for the city due to her closeness with the new Prime Minister but pledged to put Greater Manchester before “my relationships and my rosette”. In her acceptance speech, Craig said: “I am honoured, I am humbled, and I stand ready to serve the three million people that live across this fantastic city region.”  

Reform UK’s candidate, Sian Astley took 33.7 per cent of the vote, coming in second. She and Craig were the only two candidates to go through to the second round of voting. At the start of the campaign, the party was viewed as a potential challenger to Labour’s incumbency in the city region. However, within a few weeks of the race being called, Nigel Farage resigned from his seat as the MP for Clacton, forcing another by-election. The party ordered the bulk of its campaign staff out of Manchester and down to the Essex coast in order to help with Farage’s campaign. 

This was Burnham’s first big electoral test as Prime Minister and he has succeeded. The government today announced more powers to devolved mayors including a new package of financial powers as part of what they are dubbing the “biggest transfer of power from Westminster in a generation”.