Greater Manchester elects Bev Craig as next Mayor
The former Leader of Manchester City Council must now make good on her promise to restore pride in the city region’s high streets, following a campaign that aimed to convince voters she would speak up for residents across GM’s 10 boroughs.
How the voting went
Bev Craig is the new Mayor of Greater Manchester, replacing Andy Burnham, who left the post to return to Westminster as MP for Makerfield before becoming Prime Minister.
Craig, who has led the city council since 2021, was the heavy favourite in a mayoral contest that used the supplementary voting system rather than first past the post. She secured 47% of first choice votes, more than double that of Reform’s Sian Astley, who racked up 21%.
Geraldine Coggins of the Green Party came in third with 64,968 of first choice votes and Marlon West of Restore Britain, the right-wing party headed up by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, outperformed expectations by securing 46,289 votes, more than than both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat candidates.
Narrowly missing out on a 50% share meant Craig and Astley faced off in a second round where second preference votes were counted. Overall, Labour amassed 309,525 votes to Reform’s 157,178.
Craig’s share of first choice votes, while comfortably ahead of her rivals, contrasts starkly against the results of the 2024 mayoral election when Andy Burnham secured more than 63% of the vote. That election was first past the post. The 2017 Greater Manchester mayoral election used the supplementary voting system and saw Burnham amass 63.4% of first preference votes, avoiding the need for a second count.
The 16% drop in support for Labour indicate both how popular Burnham was and how much the city region’s political landscape has changed over recent years. A low voter turnout rate of 25% – below average even for a by-election – raises questions about the public’s perceptions of and engagement with the mayoralty in general.
For Craig, who is 41 and has been a Manchester councillor since 2011, attention will now turn to making good on what she promised in a campaign backed by a host of high profile political and celebrity figures, including the Prime Minister, actor Steve Coogan, and The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr.
Bev Craig has won the race to be the next Mayor of Greater Manchester. Credit: via GM Wellbeing Series
High streets
Chief among her campaign promises was a plan to improve local town centres with a dedicated £20m fund “paid for by growth from the city centre”.
Craig has also pledged to set up a “fix it fund” which would address issues like “neglected alleyways and grotty streets”, she said.
Business rates holidays and a promise to reopen empty units and weed out “bad landlords and dodgy businesses” also form part of Craig’s plan to breathe new life into high streets.
In a recent interview with independent news outlet Novo, Craig took a swipe at absent landlords, saying she would try to force them to sell assets to community groups.
“There are too many derelict buildings and too many empty shops. Often it is a landowner based in Monaco who is not making any contribution locally.”
Craig has previous when it comes to tackling struggling town centres. As Leader of the city council, she has led a broadening of the authority’s regeneration focus beyond the city centre to incorporate outlying district centres such as Wythenshawe, Moston, and Gorton.
She was also leader when Strangeways, on the edge of the city centre, was the subject of Operation Vulcan, a police operation to rid the area of is counterfeit trading culture, which many view to have been successful.
Craig has broadened the city council’s regeneration focus to incorporate areas like Wythenshawe. Credit: via Font Comms
Housing
Her promise of building 50,000 affordable homes across GM is a commitment to stick to the target set out in the Places for Everyone joint plan for Greater Manchester, rather than an original goal.
Craig’s record on affordable housing is good; last year, last year Manchester saw more discounted homes delivered than in any of the last 20.
However, her organisation has been continually dogged over recent years by claims not enough of these homes are coming forward in the city centre, which is becoming increasingly unaffordable to many lower income earners.
Speaking to Place North West last year, Craig said the city was doing its best to squeeze private sector residential developers for contributions towards affordable housing and infrastructure but that national planning policy often prevented it.
Transport
Much of what Craig has promised to do around transport is about picking up her predecessor’s plans and running with them.
Burnham, who brought Greater Manchester’s buses under public control, had his eyes on trains next and Craig has said she would follow through with the plan to bring some commuter lines into the Bee Network.
In addition, Craig wants to give every 11–18-year-old a free bus pass. This plan is part of a wider strategy to raise young people’s prospects of getting into work.
A new potholes fund, a sure-fire vote winner, is also proposed.
Such is the yearning for stability across the sector, Craig’s victory will viewed as good news for property and development professionals in Greater Manchester, regardless of their political persuasions.
When Andy Burnham announced his intention to return to Westminster, many called it a gamble and feared upheaval for Greater Manchester, an area that has been able to outpace national growth due to an enviable political consensus and momentum.
The prospect of a Reform-led combined authority would surely throw a spanner in the city region’s well-oiled machinery, many thought.
For now, continuity has prevailed and it would appear Burnham’s gamble has paid off.
Please can the authorities organise/ employ and ensure the cleaning of the city centre. It is an absolute disgrace. People are desperate for jobs and that is a worthwhile job. The streets should be swept and washed over night in preparation for a fresh new dawn. How do we allow Piccadilly, Market Street and surrounding areas to become so dilapidated!!! Where is the Manchester Pride!🙏
By Byrne
It’s great that the grown ups are still in charge of GM. Reform would have been a disaster.
By Anonymous
A lot of people i spoke to yesterday didn’t like myself realises it was voting day
By Stuart
With turnout at 25% and securing just half of the first choice vote she’s in on 12.5% vote share.
By Anonymous
Massive voter apathy, not helped by hugely unimpressive candidates and an electoral method which more or less guaranteed a Labour victory. Understandably, 75% of voters saw it as a complete waste of time.
By Anonymous
Devastated for the ‘Re…’ fans on here, whose intelligent and powerful arguments in favour of their candidates just didn’t quite carry enough heft to get one of theirs over the line. Never mind. That’s just the three shoeings your parties have had round these parts in 6 months. Not entirely terrible locals in May, I’ll grant you. But Wigan, for example, flipped quickly enough here. Perhaps Nigel’s dealings and near radio silence since his genius by-election move are showing you how far a one-trick, one-thin-skinned-man party can take you.
By Northern Monkey
Stuart – if you couldn’t even find out the date of an election that was national news thanks to the previous mayor resigning, you probably weren’t well enough informed to be at the ballot box anyway.
Anonymous @ 1st August 11.45am – you seem to be confusing vote share with electorate share. But the other 75% of the electorate who didn’t vote made the choice to let others decide (even if they made that choice by deciding not to find out when the election was taking place). The 100% have done what they felt was right and here we are.
By What price democracy?
Has Steve Rotheram congratulated his new boss?
By Peter
@Byrne
If we had litter wardens to the tune of the number of traffic wardens, the amount of fines handed out would easily cover cleaning the streets. It is thoroughly embarrassing seeing the state of the place.
By Anonymous
47% of first votes in any election and twice your nearest rival is a very strong performance in any election. It is totally untrue to say this is ‘in stark contrast’ to a previous Mayor – both the performances indicated a strong preference. It is also totally untrue to say ‘12.5%’ of the electorate – everyone had an equal vote. The real significance of the election is that when there appears to be nothing at stake then protest parties do well, and when there is a real choice, then those who vote have a real decision to make.
By Peter Black
The % figure also ignores the fact that last time out, it was FPTP and not SV. Had this been the same, it’s reasonable to assume a a considerable number of those voting for ‘progressive’ parties would have tactically lent their vote to Craig as they will have done in 24.
By What price democracy?
I don’t believe we will see much real difference by the current change of leadership. Across many of our city centres and housing estates, residents are still dealing with dirty streets, rising homelessness, anti-social behaviour, and drug-fuelled violence. Too often, communities are promised change, yet the same problems persist year after year.
People want safe neighbourhoods, clean public spaces, effective policing, and support services that tackle the root causes of crime and addiction. Until we see meaningful action and measurable results, many of us will remain sceptical that the situation is going to improve.
Our communities deserve better than managed decline. They deserve investment, accountability, and a clear plan to restore pride, safety, and opportunity across the North West for all, not for the few.
By Steve5839