Greater Manchester residents to vote for new Mayor following Makerfield by-election

Greater Manchester residents will head to the polls to elect a new Mayor for the city-region, following Andy Burnham’s re-election to Westminster in the Makerfield by-election on June 18th.

The former Health Secretary was first elected as Greater Manchester Mayor in 2017 after stepping down as MP for Leigh ahead of a General Election that same year. After being blocked from standing for the recent Denton & Gorton by-election, outgoing Makerfield MP, Josh Simons, announced he would step down to make way for Burnham to stand for election to Westminster and challenge Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for leadership of the Labour Party in the wake of the party’s local election losses in May.

Andy Burnham secured 54.8% of the vote from Makerfield voters, seeing him returned as the constituency’s new MP. Reform candidate, Robert Kenyon, placed second with 34.5% of the vote. Turnout was 58.7%, up over six percentage points on the 2024 General Election.

His return to Parliament sees his disqualified from remaining in office as Mayor, with a Mayoral by-election now confirmed by GMCA to take place on Thursday 30th July 2026. In accordance with the law, an election to fill the vacancy must be held within 35 working days.

The upcoming Mayoral by-election will see the return of the supplementary vote (SV) electoral system, whereby voters select a first and second preference candidate when casting their vote. After counting of first preference votes, the second preference votes of the last placed candidate are reallocated until either all votes are counted, or a single candidate surpasses 50% of the vote.

SV was used for both the 2017 and 2021 Mayoral elections, but replaced with the first past the post system, as is used in General Elections, for all mayoral and Police & Crime Commissioner elections in England from 2022 onwards. This change to the electoral system was then reversed by the current government in May 2026.

No candidates for the election to succeed Andy Burnham as Mayor of Greater Manchester have yet been announced by any political party.

The deadline to register to vote for the upcoming Mayoral by-election is midnight on Tuesday 14 July. Residents not already registered at their current address are urged to make sure they are registered in time, particularly as the election is likely to clash with summer holidays for many Greater Manchester residents. Information about applying for a postal or proxy vote can be found on the GM Elects website.

Commenting on Andy Burnham’s time in office as Mayor of Greater Manchester, Wayne Jones OBE, Chair of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said:

“Greater Manchester Chamber would like to congratulate Andy Burnham on winning the Makerfield by-election. As Mayor of Greater Manchester, he can look back with pride on solid achievements such as the introduction of the Bee Network and the MBacc, which will have long-term impacts on the way local people travel and study.

“Andy Burnham has already said he will take part in a Labour leadership election, and his campaign is bound to highlight his successes in Greater Manchester as proof that he can get things done.

“Although it’s a shame to lose such an effective Mayor before his term of office is over, I’m sure he will continue to be a staunch advocate for Greater Manchester and the wider North West, whether his future lies in Downing Street or in another role. As a Chamber we have always worked well with the Mayor and his team and I look forward to developing a strong relationship with his successor in the years ahead.”

Alongside the by-election in Makerfield, two other Parliamentary by-elections also took place in Scotland after sitting SNP MPs in the Arbroath and Broughty Ferry and Aberdeen South constituencies were elected to Holyrood as MSPs in May. Lara Bird has been elected as MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry for the SNP, while the Conservative Party candidate, Douglas Lumsden, will represent Aberdeen South after the party’s first Scottish by-election win since 1973.