Interim mayor to be selected on May 29

THE identity of Greater Manchester’s ‘interim mayor’ should be known on May 29.

The two candidates, Lord Peter Smith, chairman of Greater Manchester’s Combined Authority, and Tony Lloyd, the former MP who is now the city region’s police commissioner, will be selected by a panel comprising  representatives of the 10 Greater Manchester authorities: the leaders of Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford, the Mayor of Salford and the deputy leader of Wigan.

Whoever is selected will be in the role until 2017, when there will be a full election across Greater Manchester for the position.

The interim mayor will provide leadership for Greater Manchester during the transitional period up to May 2017 when a directly elected mayor with more powers and responsibilities will be created, subject to legislation.

Ahead of the selection of interim mayor, there will be four engagement sessions which will take place to give councillors the chance to hear directly from the candidates and put questions to them.

They will be held: in Manchester, on Monday 11 May; in Salford on May 13; Bury on May 15 and Trafford on May 18 .

Although only elected councillors will be able to attend,  the Manchester session  will be live streamed so the public can follow proceedings and councillors’ feedback will be passed to the selection panel to take into consideration.

The two candidates will be interviewed on Friday 29 May, with the interim mayor chosen by a simple majority vote.

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