Andy Burnham has been re-elected as mayor of Greater Manchester with 67.3% of the vote, four percentage points more than four years ago. His Conservative opponent, Laura Evans, came second with 19.6% in results announced on Saturday. Named the “king of the north” for his defiant stance against the government during Greater Manchester’s second Covid wave in autumn, the former Labour health secretary benefited from high name recognition, which often veered into celebrity status, plus weak competition from largely unknown rivals. In his victory speech, Burnham said he would “continue to adopt a place-first, not party-first approach”. He said he would support the government when it “treats us fairly. But where they don’t, I will challenge them for you as forcefully as I can.” He added: “This vote send a clear message to all of the Westminster parties. People are buying into English devolution. They are telling you to deliver more of it, not less.” But he warned: “Don’t give us devolution and be surprised if we answer back. Particularly when you try things here which you wouldn’t dare in London.” Burnham campaigned on a platform of better buses and a “London-style” public transport system; a named, contactable police officer for every resident, better homes and jobs and a promise that Greater Manchester would be zero-carbon by 2038. In his election literature, he reminded voters he had kept a promise in 2017 to donate 15% of his £110,000 salary towards tackling homelessness, and vowed to continue doing so in his second term. His first term – one year longer than planned, after Covid forced postponements of all local polls last year – was rarely free of drama. Just a few weeks after he took office, a Manchester-born suicide bomber killed 22 people at the Manchester Arena. By the time of this election campaign, he had begun to face tough questions about his oversight of Greater Manchester police (GMP). Unusually among the metro mayors, Burnham took on the role of police and crime commissioner when he became mayor. This gave him the power to hire and fire chief constables, but little to do with the day-to-day running of England’s second largest police force. In December, inspectors said GMP was letting down victims of crime after discovering that the force has not been recording one in five of all reported crimes nor one in four violent crimes. Soon after, the force was placed into special measures and chief constable Ian Hopkins announced his retirement. Burnham made no secret about the fact he had asked for Hopkins to step down, prompting the spokesperson for the home secretary, Priti Patel, to accuse Burnham of having “thrown a senior police officer under the bus to save his own skin”. In recent weeks, Burnham resisted calls to publish what is believed to be a highly critical review of GMP, which he commissioned in January.
Coming under increasingly tough criticism from the usually friendly Manchester Evening News, he said he took “the position of openness” wherever possible, but that the work he had commissioned after GMP was placed in special measures had only ever been intended for internal consumption. Conservative candidate Evans, a former local councillor from Trafford, kept a low profile during the campaign – like the party’s parliamentary candidate in Hartlepool, though with altogether less success. She dodged most of the hustings during the campaign while Burnham appeared for pretty much anyone who asked. In her few media appearances, she raised eyebrows by telling Burnham he should “throw himself under a bus” in a muddled argument about GMP and by criticising his widely lauded Bed Every Night scheme for rough sleepers. The Greens came third on 4.37%, followed by the Liberal Democrats on 3.18%. Turnout was almost 35%, up from 29% in 2017.