Michaela Howard
North of England senior producer

Verification has finished here for Manchester City council’s count but they are waiting for the other boroughs to finish theirs.

Those here to count the votes, are prepared for the long haul as the result isn’t expected until this afternoon. The counters appear to be experience at this – they are prepared for the down time.

Some knitting has been out, the fresh pages of a book have been turned and e-readers are being used to pass the time.

One table has a selection of bags of sweets across the front, some packets already opened and tucked into.

Rowan Bridge
North of England reporter at Manchester's Co-op Live arena

The last act to take to the stage at Co-op Live was Def Leppard. I suspect they had a slightly more raucous welcome than the hubbub of activity currently taking place on the arena floor.

Though the result today will have far greater impact and significance to people’s lives in Greater Manchester than Joe Elliot’s vocals. Scores of counters are due to start counting thousands of ballots cast in Manchester and allocating the first preference votes to the candidates standing.

The same process is taking place in the nine other boroughs which make up Greater Manchester. Once they’ve all finished counting we’ll know if anyone has won outright or if it’ll go to a run off between the top two candidates.

Milling around on the floor are representatives of some of the parties standing. At the moment Labour seem to have more smiles on their faces than the Greens. Make of that what you will.

Image source, Christopher Furlong / Pool via AFP

Shortly after the polls closed last night, Andy Burnham announced he would be giving greater powers to mayors across England as part of his ambition to distribute power out of Whitehall.

The Prime Minister will give all mayors of city regions in England a share of income tax revenue for the first time, saying he would "make good" on his pledge to "bring power home" to "every postcode in the country".

He will also allow English strategic authorities to keep some cash from business rates collected in their areas, and gain greater control over services such as housing, transport, skills.

The government has not yet decided the exact portion of taxes mayors will get, with more details to be announced when Chancellor John Healey delivers his first budget in the autumn.

Opposition parties said the plans lacked detail and could lead to areas with weaker economies losing out on funding.

• Read more about the announcement in our news story

Kevin Fitzpatrick
Political reporter for Greater Manchester

Image source, EPA

Housing, growing local economies and public transport have been among the big themes dominating this mayoral campaign, with a key question for candidates being whether to continue the schemes launched by Burnham.

Labour is promising to extend the free bus pass (available for 16 to 18-year-olds) to passengers aged 11 to 18, with the Greens and Liberal Democrats saying they’d make it free up to the age of 22. But the Conservatives intend to review free travel offers to ensure they’re affordable.

On housing, Labour’s candidate is committing to 50,000 new homes over 15 years while the Greens say it’d be 20,000 over 10. Reform UK’s candidate says the issue isn’t a housing shortage, it’s too much immigration.

One thing they all agree on though is a greater focus on the outer towns of the city region, with candidates proposing various schemes aimed at breathing life into struggling high streets

Rowan Bridge
North of England reporter at Manchester's Co-op Live arena

Image source, BBC/Rowan Bridge

The verification of ballot papers is under way. That’s to check things like the number of people who’ve voted and to weed out spoilt ballot papers.

It’s the stage before the votes themselves are counted to see who will fill Andy Burnham’s shoes - and office - now that he’s swapped the mayor’s Oxford Road address for Downing Street.

The final result will be announced here at Co-op Live, the cavernous concert area.

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.

But it’s 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.

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.

If Labour lose, it will be in Burnham’s back yard and will no doubt raise questions - however premature - about how far replacing the leader can win back disaffected voters.

If Labour beat Reform UK, it will be Nigel Farage who may face questions about if Reform’s surge in the polls can be maintained.

And where might the Greens finish? After winning the Gorton and Denton by-election can they maintain the momentum? We’ll know the answers to all these questions by the end of today.

Could change in voting system benefit Labour?published at 10:38 BST

10:38 BST

Ian Shoesmith
North West

As we mentioned in our previous post, voters in the Greater Manchester mayoral election were asked to select both a first and second choice of candidate.

This is very different from most elections in England, which use the first past the post (FPTP) system, where the candidate with the highest number of votes is elected.

The supplementary vote (SV) system was used in the first two mayoral elections in Greater Manchester in 2017 and 2021, but was scrapped by the last Conservative government in favour of FPTP system ahead of the 2024 election in which Andy Burnham won a third term.

The current Labour government brought it back ahead of Thursday's election.

Prof Jonathan Tonge from the University of Liverpool thinks Labour's candidate Bev Craig could benefit from this change.

He says Labour could pick up second preference votes from the Greens and Lib Dems, while Reform UK could be less likely to see Restore voters put them as second preference due to "bad blood" between their leaders.

Image source, Getty Images

The voting system for this by-election is slightly different to what many of us are used to from elections past - it's called the supplementary vote (SV) system.

Under the SV system, voters get to have a first and second choice.

If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote after first preference votes are counted, the top two candidates will go into a run-off, in which second preference votes from the eliminated candidates are counted.

It was previously used in the Greater Manchester mayoral contests in 2017 and 2021, but was ditched by the previous Conservative government ahead of the vote in 2024, when first past the post was used instead.

Seven candidates were on the ballot to be the next mayor of Greater Manchester - here's a list (in alphabetical order, by surname):

• Sian Astley, Reform UK
• Geraldine Coggins, Green Party
• Bev Craig, Labour
• Phil Eckersley, Conservative
• Marcus Farmer, Independent
• Richard Kilpatrick, Liberal Democrats
• Marlon West, Restore Britain

Image source, PA Media

The vote count in Greater Manchester mayoral by-election has begun.

Later this afternoon, residents will find out who will replace now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham in the job.

He quit the role last month when he was elected as an MP and returned to Parliament.

Burnham was the first Greater Manchester mayor - he was elected to the mayoralty in 2017 before then being re-elected in 2021 and 2024.

Voters went to the polls yesterday to vote for which of the seven candidates they want to replace him, and now counting is under way.

We'll bring you all the news lines and analysis here in this page.