Labour's Bev Craig elected mayor of Greater Manchester

Labour's Bev Craig has been elected the new mayor of Greater Manchester, succeeding Andy Burnham. Craig, currently the leader of Manchester City Council, secured 47.15 percent of the votes in the first round. The election proceeded to a second round as no candidate achieved the required 50 percent to win outright.

In the subsequent round, which included second preferences from eliminated candidates, Craig garnered over 58,000 additional votes. Her final tally reached 309,525 votes, comfortably surpassing Reform UK's Sian Astley, who received 157,178 votes. Reform UK, an anti-immigration party, had initially placed second with 21 percent of the first-round votes.

The mayoral election was triggered by Prime Minister Andy Burnham's decision to return to parliament. Burnham, who had held the mayoral post since 2017, won a seat in the Makerfield constituency in June. He subsequently challenged and won the leadership of the Labour Party and the country. His government has also proposed measures to allow mayors to retain a portion of locally collected taxes to empower regional governance.

Turnout for the election was just under 25 percent, with over two million people eligible to vote. The results were published on the mayoral website.