Greater Manchester mayoral election: Bev Craig’s plan to build on Andy Burnham’s legacy

Bev Craig, Labour’s candidate for the Greater Manchester Mayoral election on 30 July, is standing not only to replace the soon-to-be prime minister Andy Burnham but also to build on his record. 

At the heart of her pitch to voters is a commitment to expanding the now publicly-controlled bus network, arguably Burnham’s most popular achievement during his nine years as mayor. 

She has emphasised her close working relationship with Burnham since becoming leader of Manchester City Council in 2021. One of the advisors on her campaign is Kevin Lee, who was the director of Burnham’s mayoral office.

While Craig emphasises Burnham’s successes, his record has also faced criticism. For example, the Manchester clean air zone plan was abandoned after a backlash from drivers. He also faced criticism over the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s allocation of loans to housing developers and the crisis at Greater Manchester Police, which went into special measures in 2020 after it was revealed that the force had failed to record 80,000 crimes.

The question for voters will be whether Burnham’s achievements outweigh his failures and unfinished business, and whether Craig’s promise to build on his legacy will be enough to win her Greater Manchester’s top political job. 

‘Building on what we’ve created‘

“The choice we’re making is do we want to rip up things that were successful in the past, abandon them and create something different or do you want to build on what you’ve created?”, Craig told Left Foot Forward.

Burnham is popular for a reason, Craig says.

“You wouldn’t see Andy with the popularity he has nationality but also in city region and you wouldn’t see the fastest growing economy starting to make a real difference, if there weren’t things we were doing right. So I want to build on that,” she says.

On transport, Craig has pledged to keep the £2 fare cap for Bee Network beyond December 2026, and also wants to bring back bus routes that were cut under the privatised transport system. 

Craig will focus on extending Metrolink tram routes and using the mayoral powers to bring some of the local commuter train routes into public control. Alongside this, the Labour council leader wants to extend Our Pass, the free bus pass currently available to 16 to 18-year-olds, to all young people aged 11 to 18.

She also points to the Good Growth Fund which she set up with Burnham, a £1 billion fund delivering regeneration projects and new homes across different boroughs in Greater Manchester.

She says she and Burnham approved the funding package because “We weren’t prepared to wait for trickle down economics to make a difference in our communities.”

Craig said she will build on this by creating a £20 million Good Growth High Street Fund to support small businesses and bring empty shop units back into use. Craig will also give business rates ‘holidays’ to some businesses.

Public ownership and more powers

During her manifesto launch on Wednesday, Craig highlighted that she is standing as Labour and Co-operative mayoral candidate, and said she was putting “cooperative” values at the heart of her manifesto.

The Labour candidate said she will launch a £10 million community ownership fund to help local groups invest in businesses and assets that benefit their neighbourhoods. She also vowed to bring back community banks to the high street. 

Craig told Left Foot Forward that the UK “is still one of the most centralised countries in the world”, and that her job will be “to be radical with the [devolved] powers that I have” and “also be radical in calling for more powers from government”.

She added “I am excited to see what happens with the government around public ownership of our utilities and our train systems.”

Craig said she will be “standing alongside Andy” as he makes his plans on public ownership and “be at the front of the queue every single day demanding that Greater Manchester gets things first”.

50,000 social and affordable homes

Burnham came into office in 2017 pledging to end rough sleeping in Greater Manchester by 2020. Reporting by the Manchester Mill found that the numbers of people rough sleeping fell until 2021, but subsequently rose in the following four years.

Asked what her “signature” issue would be in her first term in office, Craig said it would be to “get housing numbers where we need them to be”.

Craig has pledged to support the delivery of 50,000 social and genuinely affordable homes by 2039. By 2028, she said the target is for 10,000 social and affordable homes either to have already been built, under construction, or in the planning pipeline.

Loans to property developers

But housing is an issue that Burnham faced scrutiny over. 

Between 2015 and 2024, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Housing Investment Loan Fund (GMHILF), awarded £983 million to property developers, including £600 million to developer Renaker. Out of 10,974 properties built with the help of those loans, only 503 were affordable homes.

Asked about this, Craig simply said that the court had found that the GMCA did not break any rules by allocating most of the loans to Renaker. 

She said: “I don’t want to reopen any legal arguments, but Greater Manchester Combined Authority was found to have done everything completely right, and done absolutely nothing wrong.”

While the GMCA was not found guilty of any wrongdoing, the loans to build these homes helped deliver luxury developments rather than affordable housing. 

A report on the loan fund which was made public earlier this year noted: “It is important to recognise that GMCA’s ability to influence the level of affordable housing within schemes is limited by the planning process, over which GMCA has no control, particularly at the individual scheme level.”

Craig defended the fund by arguing that the repayments from the loans to developers, which generated a £29 million profit for the GMCA, enabled Burnham and the combined authority to invest in regeneration.

“I wouldn’t be talking about investing in Ashton, in Middleton or Oldham town centre had we not been able to take the revenue from things like that [the loans],” Craig said.

Craig argued that it is “clear what side I’m on and that’s building social and genuinely affordable homes”.

She argued that her “track record shows” that as Manchester City Council leader since 2021, developers have been delivering more social housing.

The latest figures show that in 2025/26, 901 of the 4,766 new homes completed across the city (18.9%) were affordable, with 439 of the 901 affordable homes available for social rent.

Burnham’s legacy as a winning formula?

Naturally, Craig is betting that voters want more of the good things Burnham has done on public transport, alongside bold promises on community ownership and social housing. Despite his headline achievements, Burnham’s record of delivery has not only been made up of successes.

With Burnham now set to take his political project to a national level as prime minister, this election will decide whether his legacy remains a winning formula locally, and whether Craig can convince voters she is the person to carry it forward.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward