Bev Craig will succeed Andy Burnham as mayor of Greater Manchester, securing a comfortable Labour victory over Reform on a historically low turnout.
Only one in four of the more than 2 million eligible voters across Greater Manchester cast ballots as Ms Craig defeated Reform UK’s Sian Astley in the second round – the first electoral test of Mr Burnham’s premiership.
Ms Craig 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 system, with Ms Astley on 20.99 per cent.
It is the first time that a Greater Manchester mayoral election has gone to a second round, which Ms Craig won with 309,525 first- and second-place votes, ahead of Ms Astley on 157,178, to give her one of the country’s most powerful political jobs outside of Westminster.
“I will defend this city region with all my strength, and I will fight for a better life for all of us,” she told the hall at the Co-op Live arena in her victory speech.
When Mr Burnham, who won three mayoral elections – all with more than 60 per cent of the vote – first announced his intention to return to Westminster, the prospect of Labour losing control of Greater Manchester was cited by allies of Sir Keir Starmer as a reason to keep him in post.
However, Ms Craig’s victory comes as her party is enjoying a “Burnham bounce” in national polls, with him taking over from Sir Keir in Downing Street, sparking a change in Labour’s fortunes.
Greater Manchester mayoral election results
Sian Astley (Reform): 157,178 [first and second preference votes]
Geraldine Coggins (Green): 64,968
Bev Craig (Labour): 309,525 [first and second preference votes]
Phil Eckersley (Conservative): 41,021
Marcus Farmer (Independent): 2,969
Richard Kilpatrick (Liberal Democrats): 14,702
Marlon West (Restore Britain): 46,289
Described as Mr Burnham’s “protege”, the Belfast-born incoming mayor has led Manchester City Council since 2021 and has worked closely with the prime minister as a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority for the economy.
“I never believed as a girl growing up on a council estate that one day I would be chanced to stand for the place that I love,” she said.
The turnout was a historic low for a mayoral election in this region, dropping below the first race in 2017, when 28.9 per cent of the electorate turned out.
However, it still took more than 13 hours from the start of verification to the result being declared.
Part of that may be due to election fatigue in this part of the country, as Greater Manchester has been the focus of British politics for much of the year.
This is the third time in 2026 that voters in the parliamentary constituencies of Gorton and Denton and Makerfield have gone to the polls this year, following by-elections and May’s local contests.
Both the Green Party and Reform will be disappointed, with the former failing to make the run-off.
The Greens won in Gorton and Denton in February, and the party’s campaigning suggested that it was a two-horse race between them and Reform, having made significant gains in Manchester in May’s local elections, but they did not make it into the second round.
Meanwhile, it is Reform’s third disappointment in Greater Manchester this year, after failing to win in Gorton and Denton or Makerfield.
Nigel Farage’s party were made early favourites by the bookmakers when this by-election was first mooted, having performed well in the local elections here, winning 24 of the 25 seats available in Wigan in May.
But polls suggested that Ms Craig would secure a comfortable win, helped by Mr Burnham’s taking over from Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister, which proved to be correct.
Mr Burnham showed in Makerfield that his name on the Labour ballot could beat Reform’s, and what is now his party has claimed another important victory in his backyard – albeit in its worst performance in the history of this contest.
The result in Greater Manchester came on the same day the prime minister announced that English mayors would be allowed to keep a share of the taxes collected in their area as part of his pledge to “take power out of Westminster and carry it into every postcode in the country.”
Mr Burnham’s plans to let mayors keep a slice of income tax and business rates come as part of his bid to incentivise regional leaders to promote economic growth in different parts of the UK.
It means that Ms Craig will have more power than he did during his nine years running this city region.
About that, she told The Independent following her victory: “I’ve long argued, as did Andy before he became prime minister, that Greater Manchester should have more power and more control.
“So it’s absolutely fantastic that in the two weeks since he became prime minister, he’s coming good on his long-standing beliefs around power and control.
“And I want to be able to put that to meaningful use. Things like skills and support in our young people, from 16, are going to make an incredible difference here in Greater Manchester, and I can’t wait to get to work.”
