Andy Burnham re-elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester

Andy Burnham has been re-elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester for a second term.

The Labour candidate got 67.31% of the vote - an increase on last time. The Conservatives got a 19.6% share.

Each of the region's 10 districts casted their votes on Thursday, with a turnout of 34.74%.

The ballot papers were counted with social distancing guidelines at Manchester Central on Saturday.

The Labour candidate will now spend the next three years in charge of making some of Greater Manchester's key decisions including transport, housing and health.

Andy Burnham was first elected in 2017 with a vote share of 63.4%.

He was supposed to face re-election in 2020, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Labour will have been hoping for better results on Saturday after a bruising nationally on Friday.

All eyes were on Andy Burnham whose profile in Greater Manchester has seen him become the bookmakers' favourite to replace Sir Keir as the next Labour leader, even though he is not in the Commons.

Speaking during his election campaign Andy said: "Last year, I stood up to the Tory Government when they tried to treat people here as second-class citizens.

"I was a strong voice for Greater Manchester and together we stood firm. Days later the Government gave in.

"I will never accept second best for you, your family or your community.

"I will always be your voice, standing up for Greater Manchester and the North of England."

Andy Burnham sat down with our Chief Reporter Tom Dambach where he set out his policies on policing, rough sleeping and how he hopes to see the region recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Towards the end of his first tenure he faced criticism in his role Police and Crime Commisioner over issues at Greater Manchester Police after a damning report revealed the force failed to record 80,000 crimes - and was facing huge challenges after the introduction of a new computer system called iOPS.

Mr Burnham told us he used his powers to change the leadership and "put them back on the right path".