Bev Craig has been declared the winner of the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election for Labour, seeing off a challenge from Reform UK’s Sian Astley in a contest widely viewed as an early test of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s authority.
Labour has held onto the Greater Manchester mayoralty after Bev Craig, a close former colleague of Andy Burnham, was confirmed as the winner of yesterday’s by-election following today’s count. The result represents a setback for both Reform UK and the Greens, who had each believed they stood a genuine chance of taking the seat from Labour after Burnham stepped down as mayor to become an MP and, subsequently, Prime Minister. More than two million people across the wider Greater Manchester area were eligible to vote in the contest.
A test for the new Prime Minister
The by-election had been closely watched as an indicator of whether Burnham’s party could retain the mayoralty he once held, following his departure from the role. Reform UK’s candidate, Sian Astley, finished second and progressed through to a run-off against Craig, though ultimately fell short. The result will be seen as a reassuring one for Labour and for Burnham personally, given the scrutiny placed on the contest as a proxy measure of his standing since taking on the premiership.
First outing for the supplementary vote system
The election also marked the first time a Greater Manchester mayoral contest has been decided using the supplementary vote (SV) system since it was scrapped by the previous Conservative government. SV was reintroduced by the current Labour government and falls under the broader category of so-called preferential voting systems, though it does not constitute a form of proportional representation. Under the system, voters mark a first-choice candidate and may also indicate a second-choice preference, which can come into play if their first choice fails to progress to the final stages of counting.
