Labour's Bev Craig wins Greater Manchester mayoralty to succeed Andy Burnham
The party has retained the mayoralty after the Prime Minister vacated the role to return to Westminster in June
Labour's Bev Craig has been elected as the new Mayor of Greater Manchester - beating Reform in the race to succeed Andy Burnham.
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Labour had reportedly secured around 45% of the vote in the first round of voting to progress to a run-off against Reform UK's Sian Astley.
Bev Craig will now replace the Prime Minister Andy Burnham to head up the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, who vacated the mayoralty after winning the Makerfield by-election in June.
The result will be a boon for Labour, who are enjoying what some have called a "Burnham bounce" to return to the top of voting intention polls.
Craig, a city councillor for Manchester, garnered 309,525 votes after the second round of voting - 66.3% of those cast.
Reform's Astley only managed around half of Labour's total - with 157,178 votes (33.7%).
More than two million people were eligible to vote in the contest, triggered by Mr Burnham’s election to Parliament last month, but the turnout was just under 25%.
The first round result in the Greater Manchester mayoral election was:
Bev Craig (Lab) 251,449 (47.15%)
Sian Astley (Reform) 111,928 (20.99%)
Geraldine Coggins (Green) 64,968 (12.18%)
Marlon West (Restore) 46,289 (8.68%)
Phil Eckersley (Con) 41,021 (7.69%)
Richard Kilpatrick (LD) 14,702 (2.76%)
Marcus Farmer (Ind) 2,969 (0.56%)
The second round result, after the distribution of the votes of the five eliminated candidates, was:
Bev Craig (Lab) 309,525
Sian Astley (Reform) 157,178