ANDY Burnham has been elected as Greater Manchester's metro mayor for a third time.

Following his first election in 2017, the former MP for Leigh has again been voted in as Greater Manchester's top boss.

Counting for the mayoral election took place today (Saturday, May 4) following the local elections on Thursday.

With a turnout of 31.77% across the city region, Mr Burnham was re-elected with 63.4% of the vote, followed by Conservative Laura Evans on 10.39%, Dan Barker (Reform) on 7.46%, Hannah Spencer (Green) 6.92% and Jake Austin (Lib Dem) 4.25%.

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Andy Burnham has said Britain “desperately needs a new Government and a fresh start” after he was re-elected as Greater Manchester Mayor.

He said: “Britain desperately needs a new Government and a fresh start and from here, we will work hard to bring that change about.”

Mr Burnham said the “Westminster one size fits all approach” has not worked for parents in Harpurhey, “trapped in debt because of the pernicious combination of the housing and the benefit system” or for communities “suffering the after effects of youth violence and struggling to make sense of it”.

He added: “And the truth is this. If you have an education system overly focused on the university route, you will leave some young people growing up without hope. If you have a benefit system overly focused on sanctions rather than support, you will end up with a growing mental health crisis.

“And if housing policy is exclusively focused on promoting homeownership, you will leave millions trapped in a housing crisis. Greater Manchester is ready to break out of this. Devolution in England is working and these elections show voters are buying into it, but it is time now to go much further.

“My new mission will be to give everyone growing up here an equal alternative to the university route. So all our young people have a path in life and hope in their heart. And my new plea to Westminster is to give us the powers to free ourselves from the grip of the housing crisis and let us build a benefit system that helps people move forward rather than holds them back.”

Andy Burnham said he knows people who usually support other parties have lent him their support in this election, and “in return I will always respect that and I will continue to adopt a place first rather than party first approach, which is the foundation of Greater Manchester’s success”.

He added that he will take the result as an “instruction to complete the building of a public transport system that befits a city region of our stature”.

“And I will do it within this new mayoral term, uniting bike, bus, tram and train in a single integrated system,” he said.