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| Greater Manchester Mayor | |
|---|---|
| Post | Mayor of Greater Manchester |
| Incumbent | Andy Burnham |
| Incumbentsince | 8 May 2017 |
| Status | Elected metropolitan mayor |
| Appointing authority | Electorate of Greater Manchester |
| Termlength | Four years |
| Inaugural | Tony Lloyd |
| Formation | 2017 |
| Seat | Manchester |
| Salary | £110,000 (approx.) |
Greater Manchester Mayor is the directly elected metropolitan mayor who leads the executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and serves as a regional political figurehead for the Greater Manchester city-region in North West England. The office originated from devolution arrangements negotiated between national ministers in London and local leaders from the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester. The mayor combines strategic responsibilities over transport, housing, spatial planning, skills and strategic investment while interacting with national institutions such as the Treasury (United Kingdom), the Department for Transport (United Kingdom), and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The mayor holds statutory powers created by the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 and bespoke devolution deals signed with the United Kingdom government. Powers include control over the budget negotiated with the Treasury (United Kingdom), a statutory spatial strategy for the city-region, and executive authority over transport franchising through bodies like Transport for Greater Manchester. The mayor may exercise combined authority appointment powers to nominate the statutory Chief Executive of Greater Manchester Combined Authority, portfolio leads from leaders of constituent councils such as Manchester City Council, Salford City Council, and Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council, and to chair the combined authority in conjunction with the ten local council leaders.
Devolution to Greater Manchester followed decades of governance reforms in United Kingdom local government culminating in the 2010s devolution agenda promoted by Conservative and Labour ministers in successive Cabinets of the United Kingdom. Early regional governance experiments involved entities like the Greater Manchester County Council (abolished 1986) and later combined arrangements through the Greater Manchester Combined Authority established in 2011. Negotiations between the Department for Communities and Local Government and figures such as Sir Richard Leese and Tony Lloyd led to the first election, part of a wider wave of metro-mayor creations including Mayor of London and the Mayor of the West Midlands.
The mayor is elected by first-past-the-post plurality since electoral law reforms affecting metropolitan mayoralties, with elections administered by local returning officers in each of the ten boroughs: Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, Manchester, Salford, and Bolton. The officeholder serves a four-year term with provisions for interim acting arrangements in case of vacancy, referenced in legislation passing through the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Electoral contests have featured candidates from national parties including the Labour Party (UK), the Conservative Party (UK), the Liberal Democrats (UK), the Green Party of England and Wales, and independents endorsed by organisations like Trade Union Congress affiliates.
Core functions comprise strategic transport oversight via Transport for Greater Manchester, housing and spatial planning powers including a statutory spatial strategy, and skills and employment initiatives aligned with agencies such as the Education and Skills Funding Agency. The mayor manages devolved funding streams under multi-year investment deals negotiated with the HM Treasury and chairs investment boards drawing in stakeholders such as the Manchester Airports Group and regional business organisations like the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership. Public health initiatives intersect with bodies including NHS England regional teams and local directors of public health in each borough, while policing responsibilities link the mayor to the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commission arrangements and the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime model used elsewhere.
The mayor forms the directly elected chair of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority while sharing executive decision-making with the ten leaders of constituent councils. The combined authority is a statutory corporation created under orders laid in Parliament of the United Kingdom that delivers cross-borough services and regional strategies. Strategic boards and commissions report to the combined authority, including transport committees and planning authorities, and the mayor’s budgetary proposals must be agreed through combined authority processes alongside council leaders like Andy Burnham’s predecessors and contemporaries.
Tony Lloyd served as interim inaugural mayor following the creation of the office, and Andy Burnham (former Cabinet minister in the Gordon Brown and Tony Blair governments and former Member of Parliament for Leigh (UK Parliament constituency)) won election in 2017 and reelection in subsequent polls. Administrations have pursued high-profile initiatives such as the Greater Manchester spatial framework negotiations with borough councils, transport franchising pilots, integrated health and social care devolution deals connected to NHS England transformation agendas, and city-region responses to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.
Critiques have addressed accountability tensions between the mayor and constituent council leaders, disputes over the Greater Manchester spatial framework seen in planning conflicts with councils including Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council and Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council, and debates over the distribution of devolved funding negotiated with the United Kingdom government. Controversies have also surrounded policing oversight arrangements, friction with national ministers during policy disputes, and public debate over mayoral remuneration and transparency reported by regional media outlets such as the Manchester Evening News.
Category:Politics of Greater Manchester Category:Mayors of places in England