People in Greater Manchester want Andy Burnham to have more power

Andy Burnham is one of the best known local politicians in the country, a new poll has revealed. Published ahead of May's election, the poll found that 83 per cent of people in Greater Manchester can name the mayor - nearly double those able to name their MP.

Just 23 per cent could name the leader of their local council. The only directly-elected mayor in the country that was better known among local voters than Mr Burnham was Sadiq Khan who was correctly named by 88 per cent of those surveyed in Greater London.

Mr Burnham, who was an MP in Leigh for 16 years before becoming mayor, was a senior government minister until 2010 and remained on Labour's frontbench in opposition. He attracted national attention during the pandemic when he was dubbed 'King of the North'.

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The new public polling from Centre for Cities and Focal data found that, on average across the country, 74 per cent could name the mayor in their area. Meanwhile, 42 per cent could identify their local MP and 23 per cent could name their local authority leader.

The polling in Greater Manchester found that Mr Burnham's transport policies have attracted the public's attention the most. Where people could name one of the Labour mayor's policies, 27 per cent of those polled mentioned transport policies, such as the cap on bus fares and the new Bee Network public transport system. However, of those polled, 68 per cent could not name any of his policies.

Across the country, people living in areas represented by a regional mayor are in favour of more power being given to local leaders, the poll found. Most believe that local leaders should have more responsibility over