Garry Bridges has been elected as the new leader of Manchester Council, taking control of a £1bn budget and promising to push forward with plans for affordable housing and the regeneration of Strangeways prison.
His predecessor, Bev Craig, has just been elected as Greater Manchester mayor, while the man who previously held that role, Andy Burnham, is now Prime Minister. Coun Bridges hopes these two Labour figures can help him carry out his ambitions for Manchester.
Plans for housing and Strangeways
Among his key priorities is the continuation of plans to build at least 10,000 social, council or genuinely affordable homes by 2032. He is also keen to push forward with plans to regenerate the prime location around Strangeways and move the prison out entirely.
“We would expect now, given that Andy is in a position of power, that we'd get a receptive audience to that,” he says.
Coun Bridges, who grew up on a council estate in the Black Country, came to Manchester for university in 2005 and never left. He says a belief that “poverty is not inevitable” has been a driving factor in his life.
Political challenges ahead
With just three leaders in four decades, Manchester Council has been relatively free from the drama of leadership changes many councils experience. But huge Labour losses at the May elections saw many of Bev Craig’s more obvious successors lose their seats.
With Reform and the Greens snapping at his heels in his Old Moat ward, Coun Bridges acknowledges the risk. “It's not a job for life,” he says. “Every day you're kind of at risk in one sense, and that's fine. That's the name of the game.”
He added: “Last night we elected only our third leader in 30 years, and it's my intention that that stays the case, so I'll be making that case to the public.”
By-election in Burnage
Up the road from Coun Bridges’ ward, in Burnage, voters are facing their fourth election this year. The Greens are hoping to take former council leader Bev Craig’s old seat, having scooped up another seat in the ward from Labour back in May.
Sources in Manchester Labour say slashing the Green majority would be a sign of progress, but one says it would be ‘catastrophic’ if the Greens were to increase their majority, with fears about what could happen in the next council elections in May.
