‘I’ll change politics’ says first mayor after big win
LABOUR’S Andy Burnham swept to victory in Greater Manchester’s first-ever mayoral race.
On an otherwise bad news day for his party, Mr Burnham bucked the trend to win outright with 63 per cent of first preference votes – taking more than half in every borough, including Conservative-controlled Trafford.
Supporters roared at Manchester Central conference centre as the results were read out borough by borough, revealing that he had left Tory runner-up Sean Anstee trailing on 22.7pc of the vote.
Afterwards he left the hall with his family to pose on the steps of the centre, describing the victory as an ‘incredible day’.
He he said: “I feel quite humbled in many ways – such a huge vote.
“I think people have really given me their support and what I can say back to everybody is I’ll give them my all.
“I will repay them by giving this role everything I’ve got and use it to change politics.”
Asked what he had done differently to the rest of the Labour Party – which on the same day suffered catastrophic losses in the West Midlands and Tees Valley mayoral elections and in a string of council seats across the country – he said: “I’ve been stuck on the M60 for the last year because I’ve been going everywhere, because in my view politics needs to change from the bottom up and get out and engage people in different ways, which is what we tried to do with our manifesto – we asked people to write it and they did.”
The Labour victor had run a campaign notably absent in references to party leader Jeremy Corbyn, but said this was because ‘devolution isn’t all about the national party’.
“Devolution shouldn’t always be seen through the prism of national politics,” he added.
On Monday he was due to set up a mayor’s homelessness fund, starting with a £16,000 donation from his own salary.
Trafford council leader Sean Anstee was by far the closest runner-up to the former Labour MP, but still scored less than half the vote in his home borough of Trafford, where he leads the council.
He was followed by Liberal Democrat Jane Brophy on 6pc of the vote, the Green Party’s Will Patterson with just over 2pc and two independents, the English Democrats and Ukip taking the rest.
Turnout in the election was the highest in any mayoral vote across the country – at 29pc – but was still even less than would be expected for an average council election, with more than two thirds of people not bothering to turn out.
A combination of low public awareness of the role, electoral fatigue and the distraction of a snap general election are all likely to have played their part, with Mr Burnham now facing a task to cement the mayoralty in the public consciousness over the next three years.