Wait goes on for result in Greater Manchester mayoral by-election – as it happened

From

Closing summary

As we await the results of the first round of the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election, here is a summary of some of the main political developments today:

• The chancellor, John Healey, has confirmed that the autumn budget will be delivered on 28 October

Healey emphasised the need for “fiscal credibility” and said that the Treasury would “abide by the fiscal rules, ensuring we retain a buffer to protect us against uncertainty and the impact of instability in the Middle East”.

Elsewhere:

• The PM has backed stronger regulation of the funeral home sector after the jailing of a disgraced funeral boss
• Planning permission for a Chinese “super-embassy” has been upheld at the High Court after a challenge from a residents’ association was dismissed
• Labour’s former deputy leader Harriet Harman has suggested that men should be banned from running to become the party’s next leader

For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.

As we await the results of the first round of the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election, here is a summary of some of the main political developments today:

• \n The chancellor, John Healey, has confirmed that the autumn budget will be delivered on 28 October

Healey emphasised the need for “fiscal credibility” and said that the Treasury would “abide by the fiscal rules, ensuring we retain a buffer to protect us against uncertainty and the impact of instability in the Middle East”.

Elsewhere:

• \n The PM has backed stronger regulation of the funeral home sector after the jailing of a disgraced funeral boss
• \n Planning permission for a Chinese “super-embassy” has been upheld at the High Court after a challenge from a residents’ association was dismissed
• \n Labour’s former deputy leader Harriet Harman has suggested that men should be banned from running to become the party’s next leader

For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.

Andy Burnham has indicated he will scrap plans to curtail jury trials in England and Wales, abandoning one of the most significant overhauls from Keir Starmer’s government.

The prime minister said he had concerns about the proposals and that his instinct was to keep juries at the heart of the justice system.

Speaking at a community centre in Sheffield on Friday, Burnham said he was reluctant to do away with jury trials due to his experience campaigning for justice over the Hillsborough disaster.

“I have my concerns about the plan to restrict a jury trial, partly from my personal experience, particularly in Hillsborough,” he said. “So I want to really look in detail at that proposal, and my instincts are that we need to find ways of not reducing access to jury trial.” You can read the full story here:

The chancellor, John Healey, said he will deliver his first budget on 28 October, which he promises will meet Labour’s existing “fiscal rules” and “give businesses and families some of the stability they need to plan for the future”.

Healey wrote to the chair of the Treasury committee, Meg Hillier, to confirm the date. “This will be a Budget that moves power and money out of Westminster, into every postcode in Britain,” the former defence secretary wrote.

“Fiscal credibility is the bedrock of economic stability and national security. That is why we will abide by the fiscal rules, ensuring we retain a buffer to protect us against uncertainty and the impact of instability in the Middle East.”

Healey will need to make tough choices and reveal details about how he will fund the government’s latest policy announcements, including cuts to VAT on electricity bills and business rates for pubs, as well as commitments to increase defence spending.

He took up his position at a time of soaring energy prices from the US-Israel war on Iran, inflationary pressures and sluggish growth across the UK economy.

Counting is under way in the byelection to choose Andy Burnham’s successor as Greater Manchester mayor. Polling stations closed at 22:00pm last night, with the count taking place from 09:00am this morning. We are expecting a result early this afternoon.

As of 14.05pm on Friday, the turnout was revealed as being 25.14%, with 538,659 votes cast from an electorate of more than two million people.

The turnout was the lowest on record for a mayoral role in the region, reflecting widespread voter apathy and disillusion with politcians. At the 2024 election, the turnout was 32%, in 2021 it was 34% and about 28% in 2017 when the first Greater Manchester mayoral election took place.

The contest was triggered by Burnham’s election to parliament last month, after he was elected as the new MP for Makerfield on 18 June, winning 55% of the historic vote.

Polling ahead of Thursday’s vote suggested Labour candidate Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester city council, was on course to win by a comfortable margin.

Her main rival is likely to be either Reform UK’s Sian Astley or the Green party’s Geraldine Coggins. Other candidates were Phil Eckersley (Conservatives), Richard Kilpatrick (Lib Dems), Marlon West (Restore Britain) and Marcus Farmer (Independent).

The government has announced a crack down on rogue funeral operators in order to better protect bereaved families after Robert Bush’s sentencing.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will work alongside other departments, including the Ministry of Justice, to develop proposals to improve regulatory standards in the funeral sector. In a press release, the DHSC said:

\n As part of this work, the Law Commission will undertake a review of the criminal law in relation to the deceased, consider any gaps in existing legal protections and make recommendations on the creation of new offences, if they are needed.\n For bereaved families, there can be few things more painful than knowing a loved one was not treated properly after they died. The deceased cannot speak for themselves, which is why clear safeguards, stronger oversight and consistent standards are needed to protect their dignity and give families the reassurance they deserve.\n

During a visit to Sheffield on Friday, the prime minister said he backed the regulation of funeral homes and mortuaries as he extended his sympathies to the families of victims of the disgraced funeral director Robert Bush, who was jailed for 20 years this afternoon for offences carried out at his business, Legacy Independent Funeral Directors.

“I do back those calls, and there were recommendations in the Fuller Report that will be implemented because we have seen appalling situations like this before,” Burnham said, in reference to the official inquiry into the double killer David Fuller, who was found to have abused more than 100 bodies in an NHS mortuary over a 12-year period.

“I feel for the families and I know it’ll be a difficult day for them with these matters in court again,” the prime minister added. “I was truly horrified when I heard what had happened. Appalling for any family to go through that. This needs a proper response in terms of the regulation needed, to make sure no family goes through that again.”

“People, I think, would assume that the highest standards apply to this area and we’ve got to make sure that they do apply and that there can’t be any repeat of what we’ve seen.”

Andy Burnham has called on the Fifa president Gianni Infantino to resign over his “outrageous” plans to sell a stake in the World Cup.

Asked about the Fifa proposals during a visit to a community centre in Sheffield on Friday, the prime minister said:

“My view is strengthening – this was an outrageous suggestion. The idea that it could even be brought forward, in my view, shows that the Fifa general secretary is the wrong man to lead the organisation.”

When told the Fifa president was sticking to its plans despite a furious backlash from Uefa and other membership bodies, Burnham said: “Oh wow. Have they actually done that? Oh wow.”

The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, has said mayors will be given a fast-track route to build new tramways, roads and light rail in their local areas.

Large transport projects put forward by local leaders need to have Department for Transport approval before they are built.

The cost threshold at which mayors need to seek approval was set at £200m – but Alexander says this will increase to £500m, which will mean mayors can bypass the queue for Whitehall approval on their projects if they cost less than half a billion pounds. These could include tram schemes, metro extensions and station upgrades.

“Today we’re giving local leaders more power to shape transport in their community,” the transport secretary wrote in a post on X.

“Locally funded transport schemes up to £500m no longer need Whitehall approval, meaning fewer projects get bogged down by bureaucracy, and you get the services that make your life easier.”

The new threshold was announced as Andy Burnham unveiled plans to let mayors use a share of the income tax and business rates raised in their areas as part of his devolution push (see opening post for more details).

The construction of a new Chinese “super-embassy” in London, which is set to be built near the Tower of London, can go ahead after a high court challenge against the decision to grant planning permission was dismissed, PA Media is reporting.

The Royal Mint Court Residents’ Association (RMCRA) brought legal action against the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

It said the presence of the embassy could lead to terrorist attacks or the repression of protests, while being used to enforce “draconian” Chinese laws in the UK and to target dissidents.

The association, which represents families and businesses in about 100 properties, also said diplomatic immunity could make it hard for UK authorities to enforce fire safety rules if the Chinese government ignored them.

The government and the council defended the claim, saying they “conscientiously and carefully had regard” to the residents’ concerns. Following a hearing at the high court earlier this month, two judges dismissed RMCRA’s challenge.

BP has put its North Sea oil and gas business up for sale as it looks to end six decades of production from the region.

The firm announced on Friday morning that it had launched a formal process to market its North Sea business for a potential sale. The move comes as BP’s new chief executive, Meg O’Neill, tries to simplify the company and cut its debt levels.

O’Neill said in a statement: “The North Sea remains integral to the UK’s energy system. However, as we focus our portfolio and direct capital to our highest-value opportunities, we believe our North Sea business will be better positioned as part of another company.”

She said the UK would “continue to play an important role” in BP’s future. “We’re proud of the jobs we create, the contribution we make to the UK economy, and the work we do to keep energy flowing every day,” she said.

BP’s involvement in the North Sea dates back to 1964, when it was granted its first UK North Sea licence. The company discovered the West Sole gasfield in the winter of 1965, followed by its largest discovery in the area, the giant Forties field, in 1970.

The sale announcement comes a day after Andy Burnham said he would take a “pragmatic” approach to oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, saying the government could not ignore the potential energy resources it held. You can read more here:

In other news, Labour’s former deputy leader Harriet Harman has suggested that men should be banned from running to become the next Labour leader.

“We’ve got to have a woman next time,” the Labour peer told the Electoral Dysfunction podcast.

“And I’ve worked out that the only way we’ll have a woman leader of the Labour party next time, is if we start a conversation now where we say that, actually, men cannot stand for the leadership next time,” Harman, who was Labour’s deputy leader under Gordon Brown, said.

The Conservatives have had three female prime ministers, but Labour has never had a permanent female leader. Margaret Beckett and Harman served only as acting leaders.

Harman added that the Labour party, which has had four female deputy leaders, needed to “start the discussion about male ambition and male allyship”, and that “male ambition should not be to lead themselves, male ambition ought to be to support a woman to lead”.

MPs Diane Abbott and Joani Reid have been readmitted into Labour and had the parliamentary whip restored, just under two weeks into Andy Burnham’s premiership.

The party confirmed that this followed separate independent disciplinary processes, although Labour said the leadership played no role in either decision.

Abbott, 72, the mother of the House of Commons, was suspended for a second time last summer after saying she did not regret comments about racism that had led to her initial loss of the whip in 2023.

Reid, the MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven who was elected in 2024, voluntarily relinquished the whip in March this year. Her husband had been arrested on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service in a case linked to China. Reid has never been accused of wrongdoing.

The Guardian understands from Labour party sources that Reid has never been party to the police investigations into alleged Chinese spying.

You can read more on this story by the Guardian’s political correspondent, Aletha Adu, here:

As we mentioned in the opening post, Ben Houchen, the Conservative Tees Valley mayor, has indicated he would use so-called “fiscal devolution” to lower the tax burden for his voters. According to a report in The Times, Houchen said he wanted to make his region “a more attractive place and a more competitive place to invest in than Manchester and London”.

The Tees Valley Combined Authority comprises five constituent local authorities: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees. The total population of the area covered is about 700,000.

“Every mayor is backing fiscal devolution because they want more money to spend in their area,” Houchen, England’s only Conservative mayor, said.

“However, if the Tees Valley is handed a slice of local income tax and business rates generated locally, I’ll create a new rebate scheme to put money back into people’s pockets and let families keep more of the money they earn.”

“Fiscal devolution must be about giving places like Teesside the power to do things differently, back growth and reward the people that drive our local economy instead of squeezing every last penny out of them.”

As a reminder, the government has not yet decided the exact portion of taxes mayors will get.

The first secretary of state, Louise Haigh, confirmed this morning that it is “not possible at the moment” for English mayors to give their local residents tax rebates under the devolution plans. Speaking to Times Radio, she said: “We’d have to see the details of that, but it certainly isn’t possible at the moment.”

Haigh added:

\n Those kind of schemes necessitate HMRC to set up full schemes, that’s just not possible at the moment. The way that the mayors are set up and work is to reinvest the money into their public services, into their local economies.\n

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. From 2028 English regional mayors, for the first time, will be handed a share of income tax receipts instead of central grants and be less beholden to the Treasury by being able to borrow (mainly from private investors) to invest in big projects.

Mayors will also be able to keep a share of business rates totalling tens of millions of pounds by April 2027, and gain greater control over services such as housing and transport, under plans that form part of the government’s devolution agenda.

As my colleague Josh Halliday notes in this story, these will replace existing grants rather than being additional money, but local leaders said no longer relying on ringfenced Treasury handouts would be transformative.

Traditionally, the Treasury in Whitehall has controlled the distribution of local funding, leading to patchy distribution of funds across the country and disempowered local leaders feeling money is not going where it is needed most.

The prime minister, Andy Burnham, is expected to visit a community centre in the north of England this morning and officially announce what has been described as “the biggest transfer of power from Westminster in a generation”. The government said it would be developing different proposals for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The plans have been criticised by the Conservatives for being vague, with more details to be released in a white paper and the budget this autumn.

The Conservative shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, said that if faster growing areas get more funding it “could mean those who lose out are precisely those areas which have seen weaker local economies over recent years.”

Some mayors are thought to be considering using their powers to roll out tax reliefs, including the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley and Reform UK’s Greater Lincolnshire mayor, Dame Andrea Jenkyns.

Louise Haigh, who is overseeing No 10 North in her new role as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, was asked whether the scheme will enable rich areas to get richer while poorer areas get poorer. Speaking on Times Radio, she acknowledged that London, which already attracts major investment, will be able to retain more money under the government’s tax devolution plans.

Haigh said:

\n There is already a way that the business rates retention is distributed to correspond with central funding formula to correct for that.\n Because you wouldn’t want to have it that places like London and Manchester and Bristol were able to retain more of theirs while other areas that weren’t growing at the same rate, were falling behind.\n So there will be a formula and funding position set out in the budget that that corrects this, but really, we are the most centralised nation in the G7, and that has held back our growth and our productivity outside London and the south-east for too long.\n

Asked whether London will be able to retain more money than it has done previously, She added:

\n Yes, that’s right, and it will have more powers devolved, 16-19 funding, employment support budgets and the ability to tailor their own vocational routes. This will be an important part of developing their own local regional growth strategy as well.\n

Key events

• 1h agoClosing summary
• 4h agoAndy Burnham signals he will scrap plans to curb jury trials
• 5h agoAutumn budget to be delivered on 28 October, chancellor confirms
• 5h agoLowest turnout since first Greater Manchester mayoral election
• 5h agoPM backs stronger regulation of funeral home sector after jailing of disgraced funeral boss
• 7h agoBurnham calls on Fifa president to resign over World Cup sell-off plans
• 7h agoMayors given fast-track route to build new trams and transport links, transport secretary says
• 8h agoChinese super embassy planning permission decision upheld at High Court
• 9h agoBP puts North Sea oil and gas business up for sale
• 9h agoHarriet Harman suggests men should be banned from running for the next Labour leader
• 10h agoDiane Abbott and Joani Reid readmitted as Labour MPs
• 10h agoTax rebates 'not possible at the moment' under devolution reforms, minister says
• 10h agoAndy Burnham to set out devolution plan amid criticism it won't benefit regions equally

The count is still ongoing at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester, as we await a result from the first preference voting.

In the meantime, here are some photos for those of you that enjoy seeing the democratic process in action…

Counting is underway for the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election at The Co-op Live in Manchester. Photograph: Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA

Greater Manchester mayoral by-electionCounting finishes up for the first-choice vote of the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election at Co-op Live Arena. Photograph: Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA

Greater Manchester mayoral by-electionCounting finishes up for the first-choice vote of the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election at Co-op Live Arena. Photograph: Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA

Greater Manchester mayoral by-electionCounting finishes up for the first-choice vote of the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election at Co-op Live Arena. Photograph: Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA

It was reported earlier that Andy Burnham has indicated he could drop a plan to restrict jury trials.

During Keir Starmer’s premiership, ministers unveiled a proposal to reserve jury trials for the most serious cases such as murder and rape and offences with a likely sentence of more than three years in prison.

Now Mark Evans, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, has called for the government to “move quickly to set out a comprehensive, whole-system plan” to address court backlogs, warning the system was “under immense pressure”.

He added:

double quotation markThis should include sustained investment in people, infrastructure and technology. Any efforts to reduce court backlogs must not come at the expense of fundamental safeguards. Jury trials must be protected to ensure public confidence in our justice system.

Sky News is reporting that there is “slow progress” being made in the count at the Co-Op Arena, Manchester.

If no one candidate secures 50% of the vote, it will go to a second round of voting – which means it will be a late one.

All recent polling suggest Labour’s Bev Craig will win the highest number of votes but not 50%.

But, given that the Greens will likely be eliminated in third place, most second preference votes under this system seem likely to switch to Labour, rather than Reform.

The Manchester Evening News is reporting that the first round result from the Greater Manchester mayoral election will come in at about 4pm.

Stick with us as we are monitoring for any breaking updates.

Andy Burnham signals he will scrap plans to curb jury trials

Josh Halliday

Andy Burnham has indicated he will scrap plans to curtail jury trials in England and Wales, abandoning one of the most significant overhauls from Keir Starmer’s government.

The prime minister said he had concerns about the proposals and that his instinct was to keep juries at the heart of the justice system.

Speaking at a community centre in Sheffield on Friday, Burnham said he was reluctant to do away with jury trials due to his experience campaigning for justice over the Hillsborough disaster.

“I have my concerns about the plan to restrict a jury trial, partly from my personal experience, particularly in Hillsborough,” he said. “So I want to really look in detail at that proposal, and my instincts are that we need to find ways of not reducing access to jury trial.” You can read the full story here:

Autumn budget to be delivered on 28 October, chancellor confirms

The chancellor, John Healey, said he will deliver his first budget on 28 October, which he promises will meet Labour’s existing “fiscal rules” and “give businesses and families some of the stability they need to plan for the future”.

Healey wrote to the chair of the Treasury committee, Meg Hillier, to confirm the date. “This will be a Budget that moves power and money out of Westminster, into every postcode in Britain,” the former defence secretary wrote.

“Fiscal credibility is the bedrock of economic stability and national security. That is why we will abide by the fiscal rules, ensuring we retain a buffer to protect us against uncertainty and the impact of instability in the Middle East.”

Healey will need to make tough choices and reveal details about how he will fund the government’s latest policy announcements, including cuts to VAT on electricity bills and business rates for pubs, as well as commitments to increase defence spending.

He took up his position at a time of soaring energy prices from the US-Israel war on Iran, inflationary pressures and sluggish growth across the UK economy.

Josh Halliday

The Guardian’s north of England editor, Josh Halliday, has looked into Labour’s expected electoral fortunes in the Greater Manchester mayoral byelection race – and how the voting system could work in the party’s favour. Here is an extract from his analysis piece:

double quotation markThe byelection is taking place under the supplementary voting system, which means that if no single party achieves 50% then second-choice preferences will come into play. Labour is widely seen as having an advantage under this system as it is more likely to be picked as the second choice for Green, Lib Dem and even some Conservative voters. Reform UK, by contrast, cannot count on such broad support. The More in Common poll found that Labour’s lead would stretch to 30 points if Reform UK finished second, as Craig is the most popular second choice for most Greens and a sizeable chunk of Conservatives. Anything short of a strong second-place finish would be a blow to Reform UK, which won more than 100 seats in Greater Manchester in the May elections, including all but one of the 25 up for grabs in Wigan – the council of Burnham’s new constituency – and 18 out of 19 in Tameside, both once solidly Labour areas. One senior Labour figure said the party expected to do much better in these areas in the mayoral byelection, having won back voters who backed Reform UK only two months ago in what many saw as a protest vote against Keir Starmer.

Labour Candidate Bev Craig arrives at a polling station in Didsbury on 30 July 2026 in Manchester. Photograph: Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images

Lowest turnout since first Greater Manchester mayoral election

Counting is under way in the byelection to choose Andy Burnham’s successor as Greater Manchester mayor. Polling stations closed at 22:00pm last night, with the count taking place from 09:00am this morning. We are expecting a result early this afternoon.

As of 14.05pm on Friday, the turnout was revealed as being 25.14%, with 538,659 votes cast from an electorate of more than two million people.

The turnout was the lowest on record for a mayoral role in the region, reflecting widespread voter apathy and disillusion with politcians. At the 2024 election, the turnout was 32%, in 2021 it was 34% and about 28% in 2017 when the first Greater Manchester mayoral election took place.

The contest was triggered by Burnham’s election to parliament last month, after he was elected as the new MP for Makerfield on 18 June, winning 55% of the historic vote.

Polling ahead of Thursday’s vote suggested Labour candidate Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester city council, was on course to win by a comfortable margin.

Her main rival is likely to be either Reform UK’s Sian Astley or the Green party’s Geraldine Coggins. Other candidates were Phil Eckersley (Conservatives), Richard Kilpatrick (Lib Dems), Marlon West (Restore Britain) and Marcus Farmer (Independent).

PM backs stronger regulation of funeral home sector after jailing of disgraced funeral boss

The government has announced a crack down on rogue funeral operators in order to better protect bereaved families after Robert Bush’s sentencing.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will work alongside other departments, including the Ministry of Justice, to develop proposals to improve regulatory standards in the funeral sector. In a press release, the DHSC said:

double quotation markAs part of this work, the Law Commission will undertake a review of the criminal law in relation to the deceased, consider any gaps in existing legal protections and make recommendations on the creation of new offences, if they are needed. For bereaved families, there can be few things more painful than knowing a loved one was not treated properly after they died. The deceased cannot speak for themselves, which is why clear safeguards, stronger oversight and consistent standards are needed to protect their dignity and give families the reassurance they deserve.

During a visit to Sheffield on Friday, the prime minister said he backed the regulation of funeral homes and mortuaries as he extended his sympathies to the families of victims of the disgraced funeral director Robert Bush, who was jailed for 20 years this afternoon for offences carried out at his business, Legacy Independent Funeral Directors.

“I do back those calls, and there were recommendations in the Fuller Report that will be implemented because we have seen appalling situations like this before,” Burnham said, in reference to the official inquiry into the double killer David Fuller, who was found to have abused more than 100 bodies in an NHS mortuary over a 12-year period.

“I feel for the families and I know it’ll be a difficult day for them with these matters in court again,” the prime minister added. “I was truly horrified when I heard what had happened. Appalling for any family to go through that. This needs a proper response in terms of the regulation needed, to make sure no family goes through that again.”

“People, I think, would assume that the highest standards apply to this area and we’ve got to make sure that they do apply and that there can’t be any repeat of what we’ve seen.”

Priya Bharadia

A funeral director has been jailed for 20 years for leaving dozens of bodies – including a miscarried baby – “rotting” in his mortuary and giving bereaved families the wrong ashes.

Robert Bush, the owner of Legacy Independent Funeral Services in Hull, pleaded guilty to 67 offences spanning 12 years and affecting hundreds of families, including 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial.

Over a five-day sentencing hearing at Hull crown court, more than 80 victims recounted their horror at learning their loved ones had been left “rotting away” inside his funeral parlour. Many broke down sobbing during their statements.

A court artist drawing of Robert Bush appearing at Hull crown court for sentencing. Photograph: Elizabeth Cook/PA

Sentencing Bush, the judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, said: “The defendant was so preoccupied with his own enrichment that he behaved in a shocking and disgraceful way towards the deceased.

“The awful truth is that anyone whose loved one went through Legacy at any time when it was operating can now have no confidence as to how they were treated or whose ashes they have. Unless, of course, they were one of the 30 bodies recovered in March 2024.

“Culpability is of course high because of the gross breach of trust in respect of people who were vulnerable as they were bereaved.”

Zoe Wood

The price of petrol has hit a new Iran War high at UK forecourts, adding to the financial pressure on millions of households about to embark on their annual holiday.

The RAC said that in “very unwelcome news for drivers” the average pump price had reached 160p a litre, reversing the drop down to 151p in early July that followed the announcement of a fragile Middle East ceasefire.

That is the highest level since November 2022, when prices were soaring in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Andy Burnham said the government had offered help to Spain tackling a surge of migrants crossing from Morocco into its Ceuta enclave.

The crisis was “a matter for the Spanish government first and foremost, but it is a cause for concern,” Burnham told reporters.

“And we are making contact with the Spanish government, the Spanish authorities, to provide support but also to understand the implications of that situation.”

Burnham calls on Fifa president to resign over World Cup sell-off plans

Josh Halliday

Andy Burnham has called on the Fifa president Gianni Infantino to resign over his “outrageous” plans to sell a stake in the World Cup.

Asked about the Fifa proposals during a visit to a community centre in Sheffield on Friday, the prime minister said:

“My view is strengthening – this was an outrageous suggestion. The idea that it could even be brought forward, in my view, shows that the Fifa general secretary is the wrong man to lead the organisation.”

When told the Fifa president was sticking to its plans despite a furious backlash from Uefa and other membership bodies, Burnham said: “Oh wow. Have they actually done that? Oh wow.”

Andy Burnham speaks during a visit to a family centre in Sheffield. Photograph: Annabel Lee-Ellis/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Mayors given fast-track route to build new trams and transport links, transport secretary says

The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, has said mayors will be given a fast-track route to build new tramways, roads and light rail in their local areas.

Large transport projects put forward by local leaders need to have Department for Transport approval before they are built.

The cost threshold at which mayors need to seek approval was set at £200m – but Alexander says this will increase to £500m, which will mean mayors can bypass the queue for Whitehall approval on their projects if they cost less than half a billion pounds. These could include tram schemes, metro extensions and station upgrades.

“Today we’re giving local leaders more power to shape transport in their community,” the transport secretary wrote in a post on X.

“Locally funded transport schemes up to £500m no longer need Whitehall approval, meaning fewer projects get bogged down by bureaucracy, and you get the services that make your life easier.”

The new threshold was announced as Andy Burnham unveiled plans to let mayors use a share of the income tax and business rates raised in their areas as part of his devolution push (see opening post for more details).

As we reported in an earlier post, the long-serving Labour MP Diane Abbott has been let back into the party after she was suspended last July after repeating comments about racism for which she had previously apologised.

In a statement posted to X late last night, the MP for Hackney North & Stoke Newington said: “Today, following a process conducted in line with party rules and approved by the independent review process I have been readmitted to the Labour party.

“I have been issued with a formal warning for a tweet I previously posted. By inadvertently referring to the Israeli Defence Force as the ‘Jewish Defence Force’, I used wording that conflates the actions of the state of Israel with the Jewish community. I am deeply sorry for any hurt caused by that conflation and apologise for any hurt caused by it.”

Abbott was first stripped of the Labour whip in April 2023 after writing a letter to the Observer in which she argued that Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experienced prejudice rather than racism. As my colleague notes in this story, she apologised and withdrew the remarks, saying an earlier draft had mistakenly been submitted for publication.

She was readmitted to Labour before the 2024 general election but in a BBC interview last year she defended her original remarks. Seperately, in July 2025, Abbott, 72, referred to the Israel Defense Forces as the “Jewish Defence Force” in a social media post she published. She was given her second suspension last summer, which meant she was forced to sit as an independent MP instead of a Labour one.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the largest body representing British Jews, reacted to Abbott’s readmission to Labour in a statement posted on social media.

“This is an early test of resolve for the Burnham administration,” the group’s president, Phil Rosenberg, said. “It is hard to conceive of the whip being restored unless there is clear and sustained evidence of genuine remorse”, he said, adding that an “unequivocal recognition that antisemitism is racism” is also needed.