Labour announces Greater Manchester mayoral candidate

ANDY Burnham has won the race to become Labour’s candidate for the Greater Manchester mayoral elections in May 2017.

Party members voted for their preferred candidate between shadow home secretary Andy Burnham; police and crime commissioner and the interim mayor, Tony Lloyd; and MP for Bury South, Ivan Lewis.

Burnham won with 3,792 votes (51%), while Lloyd received 2,162 (29%), and Lewis received 1,472 (19.8%) on a turnout of 65.3%.

On winning, Burnham said: “To be selected as Labour’s candidate for the first elected mayor of Greater Manchester is a great honour and I thank our members for the faith they have shown in me.

“I will repay it by devoting all my energy to uniting the Labour family here, working to win back the voters we have lost and building a policy programme with broad appeal.

“I will bring forward real answers to our housing crisis and give new hope to our young people.”

To be eligible to vote Labour members were required to live in the city region and have been a member of the party before 19 July 2015, which mean the 8,000 party members who joined after Jeremy Corbyn was voted as leader were excluded from the vote.

If he goes on to win the mayoral election on May 4, Burnham will trigger a by-election by standing down as MP for Leigh and resign from the shadow cabinet.

The mayor of Greater Manchester will have control over a portfolio of public services and the local transport system, a £6bn health and social care budget, and a £900m, 30-year investment fund.

Labour will announce its mayoral candidate for the Liverpool City Region on Wednesday. In the running are Joe Anderson, the elected mayor of the city of Liverpool, and MPs Steve Rotheram and Luciana Berger.

Meanwhile in the West Midlands, former MP and current MEP Siôn Simon has been selected as the Labour Party candidate for its mayoral election after being backed by 71% of the party’s members.

The creation of elected mayors was one of the conditions set by former chancellor George Osborne when devolution deals were agreed.