A rundown of Manchester’s mayoral and local council elections

The results of Greater Manchester’s mayoral and Manchester city council elections are in, with Andy Burnham being re-elected for a third successive term as Mayor.

Burnham gained 63.4% of the vote, and Labour winning 29 out of 32 seats up for grabs in local council elections.

Burnham gained almost two-thirds of the mayoral vote, winning every council ward in the city region but Werneth, Oldham.

His competitor Laura Evans from the Conservatives came in second, winning 10.4% of total votes. Behind Evans came Nick Buckley from the Independent Party with 7.6% of the vote, followed by Reform UK’s Dan Barker with 7.5%. The Greens gained 6.9% of the vote and the Liberal Democrats won 4.2%.

The incumbent Greater Manchester Mayor stated that he was “ready to fight harder than ever before” for the region.

Labour maintained its power in the local council elections winning seats in Fallowfield, Withington, Didsbury East and West, Rusholme and Levenshulme.

Labour lost its previous seat in Longsight to Shahbaz Sarwar from the Worker’s Party, with the war in Gaza supposedly influencing the new party’s win. Sarwar told the MEN that “Labour needs to call for a permanent ceasefire. It needs to stand for humanity.”

Rob Nunney from the Green Party maintained his seat from the 2021 elections in Woodhouse Park but fellow Green candidate Ekua Banyunu lost her seat in Hulme to Labour. Alan Good from the Lib Dems retained his seat in Ancoats and Beswick.

The turnout for the 2024 mayoral elections was 29%, lower than the 2021 elections turnout which was 34%.

Nationally, Labour won 10 of the 11 mayoral areas including Labour’s Richard Parker who defeated incumbent Andy Street from the Conservatives in the West Midlands. Sadiq Khan maintained his position as mayor of Greater London. Labour gained over 170 councillors across eight councils.