{"id":720739,"date":"2026-07-31T10:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T10:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/720739\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T10:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T10:36:11","slug":"greater-manchester-mayoral-by-election-counting-under-way-in-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/720739\/","title":{"rendered":"Greater Manchester mayoral by-election: Counting under way in contest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The first electoral test for Labour under Burnham &#8211; in his own back yardpublished at 11:00 BST<\/p>\n<p>11:00 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-qs9kpv-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b8a36300-5e77-43df-b85d-44bdc8dc76c7.png.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Rowan Bridge<br \/>North of England reporter at Manchester&#8217;s Co-op Live arena<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"People sit at long rows of tables inside large arena ahead of count\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ef76a623-8c8b-42bf-8f3b-611b67b02122.jpg.webp\"  width=\"4032\" height=\"2268\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image source, BBC\/Rowan Bridge<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The verification of ballot papers is under way. That\u2019s to check things like the number of people who\u2019ve voted and to weed out spoilt ballot papers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It\u2019s the stage before the votes themselves are counted to see who will fill Andy Burnham\u2019s shoes &#8211; and office &#8211; now that he\u2019s swapped the mayor\u2019s Oxford Road address for Downing Street.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The final result will be announced here at Co-op Live, the cavernous concert area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The election is significant for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it will decide who takes up the powers that come with the office, and who will be the public face and cheerleader for the city-region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But it\u2019s also the largest electoral test for Labour since their disastrous results in the May local elections which ultimately cost Keir Starmer his role as prime minister, and led to the last mayor taking his job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">During those local elections in Greater Manchester, Labour lost seats to the Greens and Reform. Andy Burnham may have been PM for less than two weeks, but this is the first electoral test for his leadership, and one that will be watched closely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">If Labour lose, it will be in Burnham\u2019s back yard and will no doubt raise questions &#8211; however premature &#8211; about how far replacing the leader can win back disaffected voters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">If Labour beat Reform UK, it will be Nigel Farage who may face questions about if Reform\u2019s surge in the polls can be maintained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">And where might the Greens finish? After winning the Gorton and Denton by-election can they maintain the momentum? We\u2019ll know the answers to all these questions by the end of today. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first electoral test for Labour under Burnham &#8211; in his own back yardpublished at 11:00 BST 11:00&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-720739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}