Who is in the running to replace Andy Burnham as mayor of Greater Manchester?
Four candidates have confirmed they're standing
With Andy Burnham’s victory in the Makerfield by-election, there’s now a vacancy in his previous role. On July 30, around two million voters across Greater Manchester will go to the polls to elect his replacement as their mayor.
With the by-election less than a month away, some of the runners and riders are already being announced. These are all the candidates who’ve been confirmed so far.
Who is the Labour Party candidate for Manchester Mayor?
Labour has announced that its candidate in the by-election will be Bev Craig.
Craig has long been a fixture of politics in Manchester. She was first elected as city councillor in 2011, and became leader of Manchester City Council in 2021. She also serves as the vice chair of the Labour Group within the Local Government Association.
With Burnham having won the mayoralty in 2024, Craig is undeniably the favourite. However, with Labour’s recent local election performance and low poll ratings, she will face competition from Reform and the Greens, potentially alongside other candidates.
Who is the Green Party candidate for Manchester Mayor?
Speaking of the Greens, they’ve also announced who they’ll be putting forward for the post – Geraldine Coggins, a councillor in Trafford.
Coggins has been a councillor since 2018 and is the leader of the Green Group – the third largest party – on Trafford Council.
The Greens have recent history in selecting councillors from Trafford to contest by-elections. Hannah Spencer served on the council from 2023 until she was successfully elected as the MP for Gorton and Denton earlier this year.
Can the Greens pull off a similar trick across the whole of Greater Manchester?
Who is the Workers Party candidate for Manchester Mayor?
Remember the Workers Party? That’s the small fringe outfit that bills itself as an ‘anti-woke’ left wing party led by George Galloway.
As a man who rarely misses an opportunity to pop up to stand in a by-election, Galloway has confirmed that he intends to stand for Manchester mayor. That’s despite him currently living in what he describes as a ‘self-imposed exile’ in Russia.
Galloway has a patchy electoral record. He served as a Labour MP for more than 15 years – first for Glasgow Kelvin and then for Bethnal Green and Bow. After being expelled from Labour, he was elected as a Respect MP in the 2005 general election, before failing to get re-elected to parliament in 2010. In 2012, he won a by-election in Bradford West, only to lose his seat at the 2015 general election.
He then spent years failing to win three different parliamentary seats, before getting elected in the Rochdale by-election in February 2024. He would go on to lose his seat five months later in the general election.
Will Galloway have a shot? His history suggests that he could achieve something sensational or he could be little more than a footnote.
Who is the Restore Britain candidate for Manchester Mayor?
Rupert Lowe’s extreme splinter from Reform – Restore Britain – has also announced it will be fiedling a candidate in the election. The party has said that Marlon West will be its candidate.
Rather than focusing on the far-right positioning on immigration that Restore has been known for, Lowe has said that West “will push to attract genuine business investment, cut wasteful public spending including on the GMCA’s own bloated administration, protect greenfield land from developers, and overhaul a transport network that has failed commuters for years.”
In the Makerfield by-election, Restore picked up 7 per cent of the vote and came third. While it is incredibly unlikely Restore can win the mayoral election, could they pick up enough first preference votes on the right to prevent Reform making it through to the second round?
Who are the other candidates for Manchester Mayor?
Other parties are yet to announce their candidates for the contest, including the Tories, Lib Dems and Reform. Check back for updates on their candidates.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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