'We've proved the doubters wrong' says mayor Andy

POINTS TO RECORD AS HE LAUNCHES BID FOR THIRD TERM OF OFFICE

- ETHAN DAVIES

FOR a politician who’s had to convince Greater Manchester he’s not a Liverpudlian lad, it was an odd choice to play ‘Penny Lane’ by The Beatles at Andy Burnham’s campaign launch.

As Paul McCartney’s lyrics echoed through the upstairs of the Salford Lads’ Club, where Burnham launched his bid for a third mayoral term, there was an air of expectation from Labour Party officials that their man will be guaranteed 11 years in power in a month’s time.

Burnham, for his part, says he ‘doesn’t assume anything’ in this race - but past results put him as the heavy favourite in 2024. In the past two polls of 2017 and 2021, Burnham won enough first-round votes to not even require a run-off election, as the supplementary vote system was designed for. This year, it’s a straight first-past-the-post competition.

That confidence is based on his record.

He said he’d turn around GMP.