Labour’s Bev Craig has won the election to succeed Andy Burnham as Mayor of Greater Manchester.
Ms Craig wins the seat by a margin of 152,147 over Reform UK’s Sian Astley after a count which took nearly 24 hours.
The first mayoral election under the supplementary vote (SV) system after reforms earlier this year and the first test of Mr Burnham’s premiership.
Turnout for the by-election was the lowest ever – just 25.14 per cent – with 538,659 votes cast from an electorate of 2,142,779.
Under SV, voters mark their ballot papers with a first and second choice.
If any candidate wins more than 50 per cent of the first-choice votes, they are declared the winner.
But if no candidate has more than 50 per cent of first-choice votes, all but the top two candidates are eliminated and the count moves to a second round.
In the ultimate second round, Ms Craig earned 309, 525 votes to Ms Astley’s 157,178.
Vote counts in the first round of tabulation were as follows:
Bev Craig, Labour – 251,449
Sian Astley, Reform UK – 111,928
Geraldine Coggins, Green – 64,968
Marlon West, Restore Britain – 46,289
Phil Eckersley, Conservative – 41,021
Richard Kilpatrick, Liberal Democrat – 14,702
Marcus Farmer, Independent – 2969
Restore, represented by Mr West, the father of a grooming gang victim, is likely to be emboldened by the results, receiving more votes than the Conservatives’ candidate.
Ms Craig, in her victory speech, said she would put more money in the pockets of Mancunians, and reiterated her pledge to have free buses for children between the age of 11 and 18.
She also echoed remarks from Mr Burnham, who won his own by-election earlier this year, about “rejecting the politics of hate” in her leadership.
“I find fantastic people doing incredible things against the odds every single day, rejecting the politics of hate, but standing with their neighbors, looking out for each other,” she said.
“The spirit of a place that their neighbors will give their final pined in their pocket to help their struggling friend do the right thing.”
This is comfortably the largest electorate for any by-election ever held in the UK – but the poor turnout has led to increased calls for compulsory voting – an idea the Prime Minister flirted with earlier this week.
Charles White, of the Campaign for Compulsory Voting, said: “The Government has a golden opportunity to introduce Australian-style compulsory voting. Further devolution must go hand in hand with driving up turnout or risk facing a democratic crisis.”