LONDON, Aug. 15 (Rewritten) — On Thursday, around 2 million eligible voters across Greater Manchester are casting ballots to select a new regional mayor, a contest triggered when Andy Burnham stepped down from the role he held for nearly a decade to take the office of Britain’s prime minister. Beyond choosing a new local leader, this by-election is being widely framed as the first major electoral test of public approval for Burnham’s newly formed Labour government, coming as the party works to reverse a recent slump in national popularity. Polling locations across the region opened their doors at 7 a.m. and will remain open until 10 p.m., with official vote counting set to get underway early Friday morning.
Burnham’s rapid rise from Greater Manchester mayor to 10 Downing Street is the result of a dramatic shakeup within the Labour Party that unfolded over just two months. Last month, he won a special by-election for a parliamentary seat, a move he designed to launch a leadership challenge against then-prime minister Keir Starmer, who had led the party and the country for two years. Burnham’s challenge gained such overwhelming momentum among Labour lawmakers and grassroots members that Starmer announced his resignation almost immediately. Ultimately, Burnham ran unopposed in the party’s leadership contest and officially took office as prime minister on July 20.
Staying true to a key campaign pledge he made during his leadership bid, which centered on rebalancing economic and political power away from London and toward regional communities across the UK, Burnham has already set up a satellite prime minister’s office in his former political base. Named “No. 10 North”, the outpost is intended to advance his promise of devolving more decision-making authority to local leaders and spreading inclusive economic growth beyond the Southeast of England.
The Greater Manchester region is home to roughly 3 million people, encompassing the major city of Manchester and its surrounding suburban and rural towns. During his nine-year tenure as mayor, Burnham won three consecutive mayoral elections in 2017, 2021 and 2024, building deep name recognition and broad public support across the area that makes the post a key one for Labour to retain.
Looking to keep the mayoralty in Labour hands is Bev Craig, the current leader of Manchester City Council, who has received a full public endorsement from Burnham. In remarks ahead of the vote, Burnham called his time serving as Greater Manchester’s mayor an “immense privilege”, and urged local voters to support Craig to continue building on the progress the region has made under his leadership.
Craig is not running unopposed: she faces competition from six other challengers, most notably Sian Astley, the candidate from right-wing anti-immigration party Reform UK. Reform UK made major gains across much of Greater Manchester in May’s national local elections, capitalizing on growing voter discontent with Labour’s performance in government. The party has emerged as a key electoral threat to Labour in many working-class northern constituencies in recent months.
Labour has also hemorrhaged support to the Green Party across the region in recent months. In a February special parliamentary election for the Gorton and Denton constituency, the Greens pulled off a major upset that pushed Labour into third place, amplifying long-simmering internal criticism of Starmer’s leadership within the party. Those growing concerns reached a breaking point after Labour suffered heavy losses in the May 2024 local elections, creating the political opening that allowed Burnham to launch his successful leadership challenge.
Rob Ford, a professor of politics at the University of Manchester, noted that the contest carries outsize national significance for Labour and Burnham’s new government. “Labour want a show of strength in a city region where the party has long been politically dominant,” Ford explained in a blog post for the London-based think tank U.K. in a Changing Europe. “A big win in his former stomping ground will provide a significant boost for Andy Burnham as he starts his premiership,” he added.