Bev Craig has been elected as the next mayor of Greater Manchester.
The former Manchester City Council leader beat rivals Reform UK and the Greens to win the race for the region’s top political job.
It was Britain’s biggest ever by-election with more than two million people eligible to vote, but the turnout ended up being the lowest ever in a Greater Manchester mayoral election, at just 25.14 per cent.
Crunching the numbers, it worked at a total of 538,659 votes from an electorate of 2,142,779.
Speaking on stage just after her victory, Bev Craig promised to ‘make the city-region better’ during her time as mayor.
She added: “Every single decision I take as mayor of Greater Manchester will pass the test of making your life better.”
This year the supplementary voting system was used, replacing the old first-past-the-post system.
No candidate secured more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first round, so it went to a further count where second preferences were added to the mix.
Bev Craig was pitted against Reform UK candidate Sian Astley in the final round of the contest, and in the end won comfortably with a total of 309,525 votes compared to Reform’s 157,178.
Before polling day on July 30, some suggested that the change may have benefited Labour.
Reform UK previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the change of voting systems was a ‘cynical’ attempt to influence the result of the mayoral election.
The race for a new Greater Manchester mayor was called when former Makerfield MP Josh Simons stepped down in May to make a route back to Parliament for Andy Burnham.
Mr Burnham went on to win the Makerfield by-election in June, and then stood uncontested to be the next Labour Party leader and Prime Minister.
A total of seven candidates put themselves forward to stand as Greater Manchester’s next mayor when the election was announced.
They faced off at the Manchester Evening News hustings event on July 8 at Chetham’s School of Music, where there were lively exchanges over housing, transport, and other important issues.
The mayor of Greater Manchester has huge powers and responsibilities over the lives of more than three million people.
The mayor appoints the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, and sets priorities and budgets over public services across the region, including over the future of the Bee Network.
But there are also huge challenges too, such as a massive demand for affordable housing, rising numbers of rough sleeping, and calls for better transport links.
The region’s top political job had been held by Mr Burnham since it was set up in 2017, making Bev Craig just the second person elected to the office.
In 2024, Mr Burnham achieved a huge victory with 420,749 people backing him – 63pc of the vote share.
Bev Craig’s election as Greater Manchester mayor means a Manchester council by-election has automatically been triggered in the Burnage ward, as she is not permitted to be mayor and a councillor.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that this will likely be held in September.
In May’s local elections, the Green Party won the seat which was up for grabs in Burnage.
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