‘It’s not a done deal’: Interview with Bev Craig

As I arrived back in Greater Manchester to cover the third by-election held there since February, it is fair to say that on this occasion I was feeling more optimistic and confident in Labour’s electoral hopes than I had on my previous trips. 

Current leader of Manchester City Council Bev Craig is looking to take on the role of Greater Manchester Mayor since it was vacated by our now Prime Minister following his storming victory in Makerfield last month. On Thursday, she will face the electorate. I had the pleasure of being able to join the Mayoral candidate and her fantastic team on the doorsteps this week as they head into their last few days of campaigning.

I met Bev and her team on a street corner in Salford. There was a strong turnout of members there to support her, and I got the sense from speaking to them before the session began that this had been common throughout the whole campaign. There was much talk about whether Craig would arrive on her famous battle bus. 

READ MORE: Delivering in local government: How Labour is building a better Greater Manchester

It was no surprise, as buses have become a key component of Craig’s mayoral campaign. 

Growing up in Greater Manchester, I felt the positive effects first-hand of having Andy Burnham as our Mayor – most notably through his initiative to make bus travel free for all 16-18 year olds within the region. 

Craig has stated that she plans to extend this initiative to 11 – 16 year olds as well. Being one of her first campaign promises, this policy announcement has seen her develop a strong campaign identity, with her even being recognised by lots of local youths. 

Lads in tracksuits

“If you’d asked me, would I have thought in this campaign that I would have had newfound attention from the 14 to 17 year old lads in tracksuits across Greater Manchester then I would have just laughed!” she told me. 

“But actually, there’s been a real spark in young people, where they’re the ones that have been stopping me and being, ‘are you the bus lady?’ Or the parents have been like, ‘are you the one that’s talking about giving the kids a bus pass?’ And like, I don’t think you see that often where kids are switching on because for generations young people haven’t voted, so they’ve never quite been at the forefront of people’s minds.”

This policy is designed with a much greater intended benefit than solely delivering electoral success, however. 

“This for me was driven by a desire two-fold, the first is help to families”. Craig acknowledged a continued difficulty for families across Greater Manchester to face the cost of living crisis. While accepting that there are a limited number of “levers” for Mayors to help directly with the cost of living crisis, she estimates families could save an extra £500 a year through this measure. 

The second, she told me, was that it will help young people access more opportunities and to encourage aspiration. “The message that it gives young people…is that you can go wherever you want to go”. 

Craig has been a councillor since 2011 and leader of Manchester City Council since 2021. As a result, she has also been a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, serving as Vice-Chair and holding the portfolio of Economy, Business and inclusive growth. How did she then see GMCA being able to pay for an extension of free bus travel?

“This will cost greater Manchester somewhere between a max of £11 to £13 million a year. It’s revenue-foregone, which means that those bus seats already exist. There’s just nobody sat on them. So actually, when it comes to expense, it’s actually quite a low cost intervention for something that’s massive.”

This is not the only policy I wanted to hear more from Craig about. She has also discussed the introduction of a ‘GM Culture Card’. When representing a city region with as vibrant cultural contributions as Greater Manchester, I asked to hear more about what the idea behind this would be. 

“As we start to become an even bigger beacon for tourism and international travel, I want to make sure that local residents aren’t priced out. 

“So be that free days, free activities, things that you can find in an app, or be that discount getting into something. It’s a really practical way of saying that you’re growing as a city region… but you’re also benefiting local residents, and it doesn’t have to cost the public purse loads of money.” 

As she mentioned the growth of Greater Manchester, I referenced the geography of the city region. 

Prosperity doesn’t automatically flow

As Greater Manchester continues to be an outlier in its relative economic success amid hard times across the nation, it is clear when visiting that much of the opportunity is harnessed within the city centre of Manchester itself. 

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That is not to say there have not been other areas that have seen redevelopment over recent years. Town centres like Bury and Stockport demonstrate clear visible signs of revitalisation, for example. 

But how did Labour’s Mayoral candidate for the whole region hope to see prosperity delivered across the entirety of the place she seeks to represent at the top level?

“I think there is a political narrative in that, of course. Yep. And you know, if you’re looking at prosperity purely in terms of GVA or GDP, then yeah, it sits in the city centre. 

“But Manchester as a borough is the most deprived borough in all of Greater Manchester, and one of the most deprived in the country. So even within the borough of Manchester, wealth and prosperity doesn’t automatically flow.

“The next wave of the challenge is for people who have historically not been able to access those kinds of opportunities [to work within the city centre], and I think that’s both in terms of the jobs that people get, but also the visible intervention that we make in town centres and on high streets, because people don’t feel success if they don’t see it.”

High Streets Fund

Tackling the issue of the dying High Street is something we hear from politicians consistently. If this is essential to restoring hope and optimism to all the areas that make up a large city region like Manchester, then how would Craig plan to ensure investment finds its way to these areas?

Her answer is a High Street fund backed by investment. “It comes from how you take the business rates from the city centre, media city, and places that are doing well, and fund that into town centers.

“Crucially, rather than just giving it to councils, you’re giving it to community groups, traders’ groups to be able to make a pitch. But I’m also asking the government for more power because at the minute, councils can compulsory purchase derelict buildings. It takes a long time and it’s very expensive. I want us to be able to force a sale.”

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If elected Mayor, Craig would wish to see unused buildings that are accruing value but not having anything done with them, forced into sale to support community initiatives that will. She points towards our economic structure having changed over the last 30 years “in a way that people feel that they’ve got less agency and control.”

“My high streets fund is also backed by a community investment fund that looks at ownership models.” 

Craig is standing as a Labour and Co-Operative candidate. It was clear that the values of the Co-Op movement were prevalent in the thinking behind approaching the high street in this way. In a word, the philosophy behind her entire campaign appears to revolve around empowerment. Whether that is empowering communities to own the businesses on their high streets, or young people to have greater access to opportunities across the area, Labour’s candidate to be the next Mayor of Greater Manchester is completely committed to delivering for the entire city region she seeks to represent.

“Well, the reality is, for me, I don’t want a single kid in this country to have the life that I had growing up, I want them to have something better.

“So I actually think coming from that kind of background, where you know the economy didn’t work for you, the state didn’t work for you… lets you have the confidence to be able to say, well, you know what? Not every institution knows best. Maybe we could genuinely just let people have a bit of a go, backed with people in power, and it’s why I’ve also focused on only promising things that I can deliver, because I actually think it’s more dangerous to promise something you can’t deliver than to not promise anything at all.” 

Not a done deal

Equipped also with a strong presence across social media platforms and a clear ability as a good communicator, it was not a shock to find that polling indicates Craig has a strong chance of success this week.

Much of the data suggests that even if determining an outright winner through first preference votes may be quite tight, Craig is expected to do well on second preference votes across the boroughs. 

However, when asked what her message to LabourList readers would be, she made clear to say that this by-election is “not a done deal,” asking for continued support in the final few days of campaigning to ensure Greater Manchester returns a Labour and Co-Operative Mayor for continued success across the City region.

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