The current leader of Manchester City Council, Bev Craig, was elected in the first round with 47.15% of the votes.
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The candidate from the anti-immigration party “Reform UK,” whose ratings have recently been rapidly rising nationwide, took second place with 21% of the votes.
Since no candidate received the 50% of votes required for a direct victory, the vote counting continued into the second round.
According to data published on the mayoral election website, the Labour Party received more than 58,000 additional votes when considering the second preferences of eliminated candidates, while “Reform UK” gained another 45,250 votes.
B. Craig ultimately received 309,525 first or second preference votes, compared to 157,178 votes cast for the “Reform UK” representative Sian Astley.
More than two million people were eligible to vote in the elections held on Thursday. According to the published results, voter turnout was just under 25 percent.
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A. Burnham first won this post in 2017 and was re-elected twice, most recently in 2024 with 63% of the votes.
For his determined defense of the region, he earned the nickname “King of the North.”
In May, A. Burnham announced he would run in a by-election in the Makerfield constituency to return to Parliament.
In June, he won this seat, opening the way for him to return to Westminster and successfully challenge former Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the party and country leadership.
His government, formed two weeks ago, announced earlier on Friday plans to allow mayors to keep part of the taxes collected in their territories to strengthen the regions.
This initiative is part of A. Burnham’s efforts to shift power away from the highly centralized government headquarters in London.
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