The Manchester Evening News (MEN) hosted a hustings debate for the mayoral candidates in Greater Manchester, scoring the candidates on how well they commanded the room, how comfortable they were facing questions, and who presented strong arguments for their political parties.
It also graded people on their ability to save face answering the toughest questions and exposed how some of the candidates are just not up to the task of being a political leader.
With the Green Party’s Geraldine Coggins coming out on top, and the Reform candidate just behind her, it really does seem that the race will be between Reform UK and the Green Party for who can break through to the local electorate. However, neither has it in the bag – with audience members not entirely convinced in any direction.
Nevertheless, Manchester has seen quite enough centrist politics from former Mayor Andy Burnham And, a Reform UK mayor-elect could see disaster ensue for a neglected region which has long deserved far better than politicians out for their own interests instead of those of local people.
Scores are below, but you can judge for yourself by watching the full hustings below:
The @MENnewsdesk hustings for the Manchester Mayoral election in full, the first major hustings of the racehttps://t.co/sNrclmTyFs
— Ed Barnes (@edbarnesjourno) July 9, 2026
Green Party not afraid to challenge Reform UK
The MEN scored the mayoral candidates with those at the top being Green and Reform which we’ve included their key takeaways below:
- Geraldine Coggins – Green Party: 8/10.
Describing her as a “confident voice” and “impressive” on the day, they said it was clear that she was popular with those attending and provided a consistent argument throughout. The MEN also say her comments likely “resonated” with leftists in the audience.
However, they said that the repeated suggestion that the battle is between Reform and Greens is “wearing somewhat thin” and that there were palpable “groans” at saying Greens wouldn’t give Labour their second preference vote. - Sian Astley – Reform UK: 7.5/10.
Astley showed some nerves, but the MEN say she recovered and showed strong communication skills. They even say she differentiated herself from other Reform candidates in the past, showing an ability to grasp more complex issues with better understanding. She dodged hardline immigration rhetoric, instead focusing on how ordinary people have had enough.
They state a negative which arguably is a positive for Astley on the whole, in that she appeared to try to distance herself from the crypto funding scandal currently plaguing the party which reeks of corruption and ‘cash-for-services’ in politics.
Nevertheless, her loyalty and defence of party leadership is unlikely to please Reform leaders under fire, but it might better her chances increasing the challenge for the left-leaning Green Party.
The Tories and Restore Britain came last on the scorecard with pretty unimpressive performances according to the MEN, with them saying of the Tory Phil Eckersley:
The chiselled Tory was an imposing presence on the panel, somewhere between a Greek god and a Van Gogh portrait. His answers were nowhere near as interesting however and he sometimes struggled to articulate any vision for Greater Manchester at all, sometimes seeming to misunderstand the questions.
The Greens have since announced their manifesto for the mayoral seat, should Coggins be elected, which we covered earlier today:
Ahead of the Greater Manchester mayoral election, @TheGreenParty have unveiled a significant break from the Burnham model
By @MaddisonW92 https://t.co/YkfXG68aAL
— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) July 9, 2026
Good scores don’t necessarily mean they broke through
However, this doesn’t mean they broke through to the husting’s audience in the prestigious Carole Nash Hall at Chetham’s School of Music.
The MEN reported afterwards how not a single member of the audience that they spoke to had been won over by any one candidate to give them their vote. There were 100 people in the audience, which presents a pretty bleak image of how much distrust and misalignment there is between politicians and the public.
With just three weeks to go until polling day on July 30th, these politicians need to get a grip and find a way to break through. The Green Party have heavily focused on housing, but judging by feedback afterwards, people are exhausted about hearing ‘housing, housing, housing’ and want to hear something they truly believe will impact their own futures.
The most favourable feedback came for the Green and the Lib Dem candidates – but it’s hardly enough for Coggins to count her chickens, so to speak.
This came from Sarah Howarth-Flanagan who works for a social enterprise in Salford, Places for People, who told the MEN:
I was surprised by the Greens and the Lib Dems.
They’re not my party that I would usually vote for, but I thought the Green candidate was a very good public speaker, quite humorous and down to earth with a lot of experience.
The Lib Dems candidate was very down to earth, very normal, a lovely guy. I don’t like the Lib Dems in general but he came across well.
Restore and Reform came across how I thought they would and were quite controversial. Labour sat on the fence a little bit and the Tories struggled.
With this election, this hustings probably has swayed me one way rather than the other but I’m not happy to say yet who I’d vote for.
Time will tell – all bets are off
Therefore, it doesn’t seem like anyone has truly come out shining, but it does seem that Coggins has managed to connect with local people marginally better than others suggesting a tight race lies ahead!
Featured image via the Canary
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