Labour’s Bev Craig has been elected as the new Mayor of Greater Manchester, succeeding Andy Burnham after a convincing victory in the mayoral by-election.
Ms Craig, the Manchester City Council leader, won comprehensively with 66.3 per cent of the vote in a second-round run-off against Sian Ashley of Reform UK.
She won 47.15 per cent of votes in the first round, just short of the 50 per cent needed to win outright in the Supplementary Vote (SV) system, so there was a second round against Reform UK candidate Ms Astley, on 20.99 per cent
Labour gained 58,076 more votes when the second preferences of the five eliminated candidates were distributed, with Reform getting 45,250, leaving Ms Craig on 309,525 and Ms Astley on 157,178.
After her victory was declared, Ms Craig expressed her delight at the opportunity to take on the role.
“To have trust placed in you. I am honoured. I am humbled. And I stand ready to serve the three million people who live across this fantastic city region.
” I will serve every single one of them every single day.”
She said: “I never believed as a girl growing up in a council estate that one day I would have the chance to stand for the place that I love, for the place in this world that I’m proud to call home and to offer our service to make our city region better.
“Because Greater Manchester is special.”
The Labour victory in Greater Manchester signals a clear shift in momentum and mood months after the party suffered heavy defeats across the region in the May elections.
In those elections, Reform UK won more than 100 seats across Greater Manchester, including 13 in Salford, cementing itself as the official opposition on the city council.
Meanwhile, the Green Party made smaller gains across Salford and Greater Manchester in May as voters abandoned the region’s traditional loyalties in favour of the two insurgent parties.
However, following a marathon vote count inside the Co-Op Live Arena, it was announced that Craig had fought off opponents from the left and right to comfortably hold the position for Labour.
Just 23 per cent of eligible people in Salford cast their vote in the election as turnout across the City region fell sharply from Burnham’s victory more than two years ago.
When he was re-elected for a third time in May 2024, the turnout across the 10 Greater Manchester Boroughs was 32.05 per cent.
But this time around, turnout in the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election was 25.14 per cent, with 538,659 residents voting, Greater Manchester Elects said.
This was the lowest turnout in the four Greater Manchester mayoral contests held since the first election in 2017.
A campaign group for compulsory voting called the decline a “damning indictment of our broken democratic system.”
Charles White, of the Campaign for Compulsory Voting, said: “Greater Manchester’s abysmal turnout is a damning indictment of our broken democratic system.
“It’s clear media coverage, voting reform and stronger mayoral powers aren’t enough. Turnout just remains stubbornly low.
“The Government has a golden opportunity to introduce Australian-style compulsory voting. Further devolution must go hand in hand with driving up turnout or risk facing a democratic crisis.”
