EXCLUSIVE: Labour’s candidate to succeed Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester, Bev Craig, warned Nigel Farage’s chaos-hit Reform performed well at May’s local elections
Reform’s threat in Manchester must be taken seriously despite claims Nigel Farage’s party is diverting attention to his Clacton by-election fight, Bev Craig has warned.
Labour’s candidate to succeed Andy Burnham as Greater Manchester Mayor warned the right-wing party performed well at May’s local elections. But in an interview with The Mirror, she said she was hopeful voters would reject the politics of division when around two million people are eligible to cast their votes in the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election on July 30.
Mr Farage, who last week quit as an MP amid a probe over a £5million gift from Thai-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, had set his party’s sights on the region’s mayoralty. It was reported, however, that a WhatsApp message was shared with Reform activists in the region urging them to “come help us in Clacton” hundreds of miles away.
Ms Craig, Labour’s 41-year-old candidate, who has led Manchester City Council since 2021, told The Mirror during a campaigning visit in Urmston: “The world I’m from if you get a tenner, you ask why you’ve been given a tenner. To get £5million is just something I can’t relate to.
“What we see in Clacton is a stain on democracy. Having Nigel Farage fight a bin because he doesn’t want to be accountable for his decisions is a disgrace. But I also think that I’m not getting carried away with two people on a WhatsApp group saying that they want to go and help Nigel fight a bin in Clacton.”
She stressed: “We’re taking Reform’s threat here seriously. They did well in the local elections so they are a real threat to Greater Manchester and we’ll be running a very energetic campaign – one that recognises why people voted Reform to begin with and one that starts to deal with the fact that for generations people felt left behind and they’ve not felt their lives got better enough.”
The North-West race was triggered after Mr Burnham, who is set to be coronated as Labour leader later this week, returned to Westminster following his Makerfield by-election victory.
He previously stormed to victory in three Greater Manchester mayoral elections, and in the most recent contest – 2024 – emerged with over 63% of the vote. But Reform secured major gains in the area at May’s local elections. In a recent survey, Labour were on 33.2% of first preference support, with Mr Farage’s party in close second place on 30.1% – followed by the Greens on 12.5%
Pressed on the threat of Reform, Ms Craig said: “I am concerned about the rise of Reform. But I also think across Greater Manchester, Labour has never and should never take people for granted and shouldn’t be a place we always assume is a Labour city region.
“We’ve been Labour in Greater Manchester – with Andy as Mayor and some of the councils – because of what we’ve done. I think we’re seeing people with politics of grievance trying to divide our communities over things that might be long-standing generational problems.
“But it’s one of the reasons why as mayor, I’ve made the commitment upfront around a cost-of-living guarantee that every single decision I make will be about making people better off. It’s why I led with my first policy about bringing free buses for 11 to 18-year-olds because that puts money in people’s pockets and gives young people opportunities. That for me is how you fight people who are moving away from the Labour Party and bring them back..”
She added: “I’m hopeful that they [voters] do reject the politics of division, yes.”
Ms Craig, who grew up on a council estate just outside Belfast, moved to Manchester in 2003 at the age of 18 as a student. She said: “It was a time when the LGBT scene was thriving. I kind of grew up seeing Manchester on the TV, I knew that I wanted to leave Northern Ireland, and it seemed like a place that would be really welcoming.”
She said it was immediately welcoming, adding: “I’m from a place where you get on a bus or in a taxi and people talk to you and ask you where you’re going.
“So coming to Manchester where you thank the bus driver on the way off the bus sounds like a really little thing, but it makes you feel at home. I think it was the first time in my life I felt accepted, and I could just be who I wanted to be.”
Ms Craig was first elected as a Burnage councillor in 2011 before taking over as Manchester City Council leader 10 years later from Sir Richard Leese, who had held the position for a quarter of a century.
She also became friends with Mr Burnham in his role as the region’s mayor. Asked what kind of Prime Minister he will be, she said: “I think he will fight really hard to remain authentic. I think in politics we don’t see much of that.
“We see people change when they go into power, and when they get power. I don’t think Andy will do that. I think with Andy, what you see is what you get in terms of how naturally at ease he is with people. But people underestimate the amount of time he thinks about things and actually the ideas he has for the country.
“I think he’ll be fair, I think he’ll be progressive. I think he’ll connect with people in a way they’ve not felt for a long time – that’s what’s missing from politics.”
But she added a friendly warning: “I also expect him to be true to his word on devolution.”
Asked whether she would hold his feet to the fire, she went on: “We’re friends – he’s DJ’ed badly at my birthday party. But I’m standing to stand up for this place and you know, friendship will help, a good working relationship will help, his priorities and knowing about Greater Manchester will help.
“But do not underestimate my ability to hold anyone’s feet to the fire when it means getting what we need for Greater Manchester. When people ask what’s the difference between you and Andy – there’s loads of differences. But I am standing as my own person, with my own ideas, and I’ll be accountable to this region, and to no one else.”