Craig wins decisive runoff
Labour's Bev Craig has been elected the new Mayor of Greater Manchester, defeating Reform UK's Sian Astley in a second-round count. Craig received 309,525 votes against Astley's 157,178, giving her 66.3 percent of the final vote share to Reform's 33.7 percent. No candidate reached the 50 percent threshold in the first round, so second-preference votes from eliminated candidates were distributed.[S1][S2][S3][S4]
Seven candidates stood in the election: Sian Niamh Astley for Reform UK, Geraldine Coggins for the Green Party, Bev Craig for Labour, Phil Eckersley for the Conservatives, Marcus Jonathan Farmer as an independent, Richard Kilpatrick for the Liberal Democrats, and Marlon West for Restore Britain. As no candidate won more than half of first choices, Craig and Astley advanced to a second round, where ballots from the five eliminated contenders were reallocated.[S4][S5]
Burnham's departure triggered election
The by-election was called after Andy Burnham, who had served as Greater Manchester's mayor for nine years, was elected as MP for Makerfield in June and later became prime minister. Burnham took office on July 20, succeeding Keir Starmer, whose resignation followed Labour's heavy losses in local elections. The departure triggered the biggest by-election ever held in the UK, with more than two million people eligible to vote across 10 boroughs.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5]
Craig, 41, grew up on a council estate in Belfast and moved to Manchester in 2003 to study politics and modern history at the University of Manchester. She entered local government after graduating and later worked in higher education and at a national trade union. She was first elected to Manchester City Council in 2011, led its adult social care during the pandemic, and became council leader in 2021 after Sir Richard Leese stepped down.[S1][S3]
Record low turnout
Turnout in Thursday's election was 25.14 percent, with 538,659 votes cast from an electorate of 2,142,779. That was the lowest in any of the four mayoral elections since Greater Manchester gained a directly elected mayor in 2017. In 2024, turnout was 32.05 percent; it was 28.9 percent in 2017 and 34.7 percent in 2021. The result was declared just after 11pm on Friday.[S4][S5][S6]
The decisive victory was a major boost for the new prime minister and Labour, which had been trounced by Reform UK in local council elections across Greater Manchester less than three months ago. Reform won more than 100 seats in May, including all but one of 25 in Wigan and 18 of 19 in Tameside, both once solidly Labour. A senior Labour source said Reform had "massively underperformed," while Rob Ford of the University of Manchester called Craig's rebound "a really powerful moment" for the party.[S2][S6]
Craig's promises
In her victory speech at Co-op Live, Craig said the city region that gave the world the Suffragettes had "changed the world" and would do so again. She promised to defend the region "with every bone in my body" and fight for a better life for everyone, while thanking residents who had voted for her and those who had "loaned their votes" as second preferences.[S1][S2][S4]
Craig, the UK's first female metro mayor, said she was honoured, humbled and ready to serve. She pledged to be a mayor for all residents regardless of how they voted, promised a "week of priorities" in her first week in office, and urged a move away from "divisive politics that try to pit neighbour against neighbour."[S1][S4][S6]
