Andy Burnham is the new Greater Manchester Mayor

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Andy Burnham

Labour’s Andy Burnham has been voted Greater Manchester’s first metro mayor with a landslide 63% of the vote.

Announced on 5 May shortly before 4pm, Mr Burnham won with 359,352 votes. The total turnout was 29%. 6,608 ballot papers were rejected at the first count.

In his speech, the new Mayor said: “Thank you everybody; this is an historic day for Greater Manchester. I want to thank those who have worked so hard to make it happen, particularly Sir Howard Bernstein and Tony Lloyd.

“I want to thank the staff of our ten councils who’ve been working through the day to count the votes, the Combined Authority and Greater Manchester Police who have run the election so smoothly.

“I must thank my incredible campaign team, chaired by Andrew Gwynn MP, Barbara Keeley MP, and of course, the incredible long-suffering Kevin Lee. Thanks so much to you all.

“Can I also to thank my fellow candidates, particularly from the other two main parties and the Green Party, for making this a friendly and positive campaign, to set the right tone for a new era in Greater Manchester.

“Most of all, I want to thank the people of Greater Manchester. You have given me a big job to do and a big mandate with which to do it. I will give it my all. I won’t let you down.”

He continued: “All I can say is, ‘wow’. 63% of the vote. Pretty good.”

At this point, cheers drowned out Mr Burnham.

Mr Burnham continued: “I heard, down the road in Liverpool, the candidate there got 59%, so I think we can all say today, that is Manchester one, Liverpool nil.

“Wherever you live, whether you voted for me or not, it doesn’t matter, I will be a mayor for you, for the people. A strong voice for all of Greater Manchester.

“This is the dawn of a new era, not just for this city region, but for politics in our country. It has been too London-centric for too long. The old party and political structures haven’t delivered for all people and all places: they have created this crisis in politics, which we are living through now.

“And do you know what? We can hold as many general elections as we like, and that will never solve the problem. People have worked hard to get to this moment and we are not going to waste it.

“Greater Manchester is going to take control. We are going to change politics and make it work better for people. We will give power and purpose to those people and places that Westminster has left behind. We will get the voice of the north heard more loudly than ever before.

“We asked the people of Greater Manchester to help us write our manifesto and now I invite them to help us implement it. We will leave the same old politics behind in Westminster, create a new politics here and involve people in new ways.

“Here, our focus will be on making a difference, not point-scoring.

“Here, young people won’t be the target for the cuts- they’ll be our priority for investment.

“Here, older people won’t be labelled ‘bed-blockers’ but treated with respect.

“And here, in this great city, we will never accept it as an inevitable fact of modern life, that for some people to succeed, others have to sleep rough on our cold streets.”