LONDON, MANCHESTER — A by-election triggered by Andy Burnham’s departure from Greater Manchester’s top local government role to become the United Kingdom’s prime minister has ended with Labour Party candidate Bev Craig claiming the mayoralty in a decisive victory Friday.
Craig secured a landslide 66.3% of the vote in the runoff round, beating Sian Astley, the contender from the right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK. The contest was held after Burnham, who held the Greater Manchester mayoral post for nine years, moved to national office: he won a special parliamentary by-election, was elected Labour Party leader following Keir Starmer’s resignation, and took office as prime minister on July 20.
In her victory address after the final result was declared, Craig struck an inclusive tone for all voters across the city region. “To those that voted for me, thank you,” she said. “And for those of you that didn’t vote for me, I will still be your mayor. I will defend this city region with every bone in my body and I will fight for a better life for all of us.”
The election used a ranked-choice voting system, where voters mark first and second preference choices. Craig fell just 0.2% short of an outright first-round majority, forcing a runoff between the top two vote-getters. Second-preference votes from the five eliminated candidates were then allocated to the remaining contenders, sealing Craig’s lopsided win. Prior to the by-election, Craig served as the outgoing leader of Manchester City Council, one of the 10 local boroughs that make up the Greater Manchester city region.
Notably, voter turnout for Thursday’s poll hit just 25%, the lowest figure recorded in the four mayoral elections held since Greater Manchester introduced a directly elected mayoral system in 2017.
Unlike Craig’s narrow first-round finish, Burnham never faced a runoff in his three consecutive successful mayoral campaigns, winning outright majority support in every contest.
Even so, Craig’s win marks a significant political rebound for the centre-left Labour Party, which suffered a devastating defeat to Reform UK in local council elections across Greater Manchester less than three months ago. That poor nationwide performance in local English elections ultimately forced the resignation of then-Labour leader and prime minister Keir Starmer, clearing the path for Burnham’s rise to Downing Street.
Rob Ford, professor of politics at the University of Manchester, described the result as a critical turning point for Labour after its bruising local election losses. “Labour got an absolute pasting, a shellacking in those local elections,” Ford said. He noted that Craig’s rebound from that low point is “a really powerful moment” for the party as it looks to rebuild confidence ahead of future national contests.