Former Timperley councillor Laura Evans has been selected as the Conservative Party candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester and will stand against Andy Burnham in May’s elections.
Evans, a former Executive Member on Trafford Council, was chosen by party members after a “stirring and passionate” speech at a selection convention on Sunday.
She said there was an appetite for change at May’s elections, when Burnham will stand for re-election at the same time as the council elections.
Three years ago he polled over 63% of the vote to be named Greater Manchester’s first mayor, with the Conservative candidate Sean Anstee picking up 22.7%.
Evans said: “While I appreciate that Labour has been the dominant party across the county for many years, Conservatives polled 435,647 votes across Greater Manchester at the last General Election which compares to 359,352 votes which the current Mayor polled at the last Mayoral election.”
She said that Burnham had “failed the people of Greater Manchester” in areas including the controversial new police IT system, crime and the loss of Green Belt.
Cllr. Patrick Myers, Deputy Leader of Trafford Conservative Group, said that Evans had “served the people of Trafford with distinction for nine years”.
Evans did not stand for re-election to Trafford Council in 2019 in order to stand as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Wirral West. She came up short to Margaret Greenwood, polling 17,692 votes against Greenwood’s 20,695.
