Andy Burnham has been re-elected to serve a second term as Greater Manchester Mayor in the election held on Thursday 6th May 2021.
Burnham, who has served as Greater Manchester Mayor since 2017, won 67.31% of first-preference votes, campaigning on a platform to reform public transport in the city-region by bringing buses into public control and integrating ticketing across buses and trams, as well as continuing towards the 2038 target to achieve carbon neutrality and build over 30,000 social homes in the next decade.
Originally scheduled for May 2020, the mayoral election was postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the next election due to take place in 2024, when term-length will return to four years.
Formerly a Labour Health Secretary and Leigh MP, Andy Burnham increased his support compared to the 2017 election, bucking the trend elsewhere in the Midlands and North of England that saw the Labour Party lose council seats to the Conservatives, as well as a parliamentary by-election in Hartlepool. Andy Burnham’s increased support has been attributed to his criticisms of Westminster throughout the pandemic, and negotiations over the introduction on local coronavirus restrictions being imposed in Greater Manchester in autumn last year. In other mayoral elections nationally, incumbent metro-mayors were all also re-elected.
Conservative candidate Laura Evans came in second-place with just under 20% of first-preference votes.
In addition to the Greater Manchester Mayoral election, residents also went to the polls to elect their representatives on local councils.
In Stockport, a third of seats on Stockport Council were up for election across the borough. With all votes counted, no party secured overall control of the council, although the Liberal Democrats are now the largest group by a single seat after the Green Party secured their first representative on the council at the expense of Labour.
A full breakdown of results from Thursday’s elections in Stockport are available from the Council website.