Voters in Manchester choose a mayor to replace Andy Burnham, who left city hall for Downing Street
More than 2 million voters are choosing a new mayor, with Labour’s Bev Craig favored as the contest tests support after recent losses.
- On Thursday, July 30, 2026, more than 2 million voters in Greater Manchester cast ballots to elect a successor to former Mayor Andy Burnham, who vacated the post to become Prime Minister.
- This by-election uses the supplementary vote method, where voters mark first and second choices, after Burnham resigned earlier this year to challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.
- Labour candidate Bev Craig, leader of Manchester City Council, leads polling at 39 per cent, suggesting Labour is rebounding since damaging local elections in May.
- Reform UK's Sian Astley and Green Party candidate Geraldine Coggins challenge Craig, capitalizing on recent gains including Reform's 106 council seats won in May and the Greens' February parliamentary by-election victory.
- University of Manchester professor Rob Ford calls the vote a "helpful first exam" for Burnham, noting a Craig victory would validate Labour's efforts to reverse the popularity decline that began under Starmer.
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Labour, Reform and Restore await verdict as polls close in race to replace Andy Burnham
Labour, Reform and Restore await verdict as polls close in race to replace Andy Burnham . Labour, Reform UK and Restore Britain are awaiting results as polls have closed in the race to replace Andy Burnham
The vote count will begin on Friday morning
Who will replace Andy Burnham as Manchester mayor?
Labour looks set to pass its first test with voters since Andy Burnham took over as prime minister, with the party’s candidate the favourite to succeed him as Manchester mayor in today’s by-electionThe race to replace Burnham has been somewhat “overshadowed by events in Westminster” over the past week. But the region’s two million voters go to the polls today to take part in “the biggest by-election in British political history”, said The Guardi…
(London=Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Ji-yeon = A by-election to elect the Mayor of Greater Manchester, a position left vacant as British Prime Minister Andy Burnham moved to become a Member of Parliament...
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