Tony Lloyd announces he’s in the running to be Greater Manchester’s interim mayor

Tony Lloyd was Manchester Central’s Labour MP (and Chair of the PLP) until a few years ago when he stood down to run as Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner. Now it appears he has his eye on another role – he’s the first person to announce their candidacy for the role of interim mayor of Greater Manchester.

The interim mayor will take on the role in June until an elected mayor is appointed in 2017. As the current Police and Crime Commissioner (which would be merged into the new mayoral role) Lloyd has pledged – if successful – to take on both roles for a single salary. Announcing his bid, he told the BBC:

“We must ensure that we have a plan to grow the economy across all ten boroughs and cities in Greater Manchester so that every community sees that devolution will make a real difference to their lives.

“We can only truly succeed when every community has a stake in the future which is why devolution must not stop at Greater Manchester level. If successful, I will work to ensure that devolution continues from that level to the districts.”

The other candidate for the role is believed to be Peter Smith (Baron Smith of Leigh) – he’s a life peer, he’s been the leader of Wigan council for almost a quarter of a century and currently serves as Chair of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Smith has yet to formally announced his candidacy – but regardless of who takes on the role, Greater Manchester’s interim mayor will be a Labour politician.