Manchester is preparing itself for another, albeit lower-profile, by-election, and the Green party is already ahead.
It’s true that the Green Party didn’t get the result it wanted in the Manchester mayoral by-election. Instead, Bev Craig, former Manchester City Council (MCC) leader and Burnham-Labour ally, took on the big job.
However, one consequence of that huge mayoral by-election is yet another in Manchester. Only this time, instead of two million Mancunians being offered the vote, it’s some 13,000 Burnage residents.
And despite their lack of a mayor — for now, anyway — the Green Party is prepping for another electoral fight. And this time, even more than before, the odds do seem to be in their favour.
Manchester’s lowest-ever election turnout results broken down
Bye-bye, by-election, bye-bye…
The Burnage ward by-election takes place to fill a gap in the shape of ex-councillor, now mayor, Bev Craig. She represented the seat in MCC until she became the new Greater Manchester Mayor.
That gap, of course, was created by our new PM Andy Burnham stepping down as mayor. That empty job, in turn, was created by ex-MP Josh Simons stepping down and sparking (not by accident) the whole leadership handover.
And that handover was necessitated, arguably, by the inept political vacuity of Keir Starmer. You could even stretch the causal chain back further to Gorton and Denton — yet another Manchester by-election, triggered by Starmer’s poor choice of allies. You might think that’s unrelated by this point — but wait.
As it happens, Burnage ward is in the Gorton and Denton constituency. So at the moment, its residents are represented in parliament by Hannah Spencer MP.
With potentially very strong odds for the Green party candidate, mayor Craig may be glad she got the promotion before re-election time came. It’s only 18 months before she has to stand again.
Labour and Reform dodge Manchester mayoral election community hustings
Who is the Green party’s hopeful candidate?
In an email shared with the Canary, the Manchester-wide party federation shared its candidate. It was both a mayoral by-election debrief and an announcement of next steps, including the Burnage by-election news.
Manchester’s Green Party branch says it has just selected a “wonderful candidate”, Daoud Nawaz, described by Manchester Green Party as:
a local resident with 15 years of political activism and grassroots campaigning.
In line with the party’s internal democracy practices, Nawaz was selected through internal, Manchester branch party elections. The branch states what platform Nawaz will run on:
Daoud’s priorities will include tackling speeding and dangerous driving, fighting for genuinely affordable housing, and protecting vital services for those who need them most, including older people, families and vulnerable residents.
In an early campaign video, Nawaz donned football boots and flashed a smile, with a simple message. He also took square aim at the right-wing media sensationalisation — touted by Tony Blair, naturally — of a so-called:
‘unholy alliance between the Greens and the Muslim vote’.
Instead, he’s doubled down on his platform of being a local champion. In the same video, Nawaz says:
I’m a local, I’ve got the same issues as you. …Local bins. Local schools. Local businesses. Local leisure facilities, like the local cricket club — which isn’t there anymore.
Like many of us who are local, we feel like we’re losing a sense of what Burnage is.
I want us to be more Burnage. Where accessibility is not optional. Where road safety’s not trapped in red tape. Where local voices around developments are listened to. Where businesses flourish. And where our youth aren’t left to fend for themselves when school’s out.
It’s hard to argue with a message like that — so far, so good.
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Where do local Greens stand now?
The Greens missed their target in the mayoral by-election. Only around 25% of the two million-odd voters actually turned out, making it a historically low turnout.
Unfortunately for those on the left, Reform claimed the second-place vote across Greater Manchester.
But the Greens nonetheless claim multiple symbolic and strategic gains during Geraldine Coggins’ campaign. In the same email announcing Nawaz’s candidacy, Greens stated:
Last week, with our wonderful candidate Geraldine Coggins, the Green Parties in Greater Manchester ran one of our largest ever election campaigns and achieved our best ever result in a mayoral election. Across all 10 boroughs, we delivered hundreds of thousands pieces of literature, knocked on thousands of doors, and built campaign teams that will be invaluable in future elections.
Speaking directly to the Canary, a Green Party spokesperson said:
The Greens have increased our vote share by nearly 80% from the same election just a couple of years ago and Labour’s vote has fallen by a quarter. This gives us a good springboard for future campaigns and the general election where we saw particularly strong votes in our target areas of Greater Manchester.
We are proud of the campaign fought by Geraldine, who fought this campaign in the unusual circumstances of a new PM in his honeymoon period. Geraldine spoke up for the many people in the region who feel Labour has run Greater Manchester for developers and big money, and not the people.
With the bigger Green vote, we hope the new mayor has heard clearly that voters expect her to deliver on affordable housing, rent controls, and to put people over profit.
When you add the recent experience of multiple local elections and by-elections across the city-region to this confidence, things already look strong for Nawaz. This is only aided by his colleague Hannah Spencer, Burnage’s vibrant, multiracial working-class community, and an already active Green base.
The ward will have its say on 10 September — one month away. Let’s see if the area is keen to replace its now-vacant Labour councillor with a progressive, Green party alternative.
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Featured image via the Canary
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