Andy Burnham has announced he will donate 15% of his MP’s salary to local causes in his Makerfield constituency, continuing a practice he maintained throughout his nine years as Mayor of Greater Manchester.

An MP’s current salary stands at £98,599, meaning the pledge amounts to just under £15,000 a year directed to local causes. Burnham posted the announcement online shortly after his landslide win in the Makerfield byelection, in which he secured 54% of the vote and beat Reform UK by more than 9,000 votes.

“One thing that I want to continue from my time as mayor of Greater Manchester is donating 15% of my salary,” he said. “I did that for nine years as mayor to tackle homelessness in Greater Manchester and I am going to carry it forward as MP for Makerfield but this time donating to worthy local causes at the heart of our communities.”

Where the money starts

Burnham said he would begin with the Stubshaw Cross community and sports club – a local venue that served as his campaign headquarters during the byelection, formerly known as the Stubshaw Cross Labour club. It is the kind of grassroots community infrastructure that has been a recurring theme in Burnham’s political identity, from his Greater Manchester homelessness work to his devolution agenda.

As mayor, Burnham was paid an annual salary of £118,267 and donated 15% of that throughout his tenure – a total that over nine years amounts to a significant sum directed to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness across the region. The mayoral role will now pass to his successor following the byelection triggered by his move to Westminster.

Not the only MP to do this

A number of MPs across parties donate all or part of their parliamentary salary. Rupert Lowe, the former Reform UK MP who now leads Restore Britain, pledged after his 2024 election to donate his entire net MP salary to charities and causes in his Great Yarmouth constituency. Ellie Chowns, the Green MP for North Herefordshire, announced after her election that she would donate a large portion of her salary and live on an average income “so that I can remain in touch with what life is like for ordinary people.” Others across parties are signed up through the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority to donate through the Give As You Earn scheme.

As prime minister, Burnham would be entitled to claim a total salary of more than £174,039, combining his MP’s salary with the prime ministerial ministerial supplement. Whether he would maintain or adjust his donation practice at that level has not yet been addressed.

The Greater Manchester succession

Burnham’s move to Westminster means Greater Manchester now needs a new mayor. Labour has named Bev Craig, the current leader of Manchester City Council, as its candidate for the mayoral byelection. Craig, 41, is the first woman and openly gay person to lead Manchester City Council and has held the role for five years. Belfast-born and raised on what she has described as a “very traditional, working class, Protestant, loyalist” housing estate, she came out as gay at 14 and was the first in her family to attend university, moving to Manchester in 2003 and making it her permanent home.

“Greater Manchester is a special place – from the Industrial Revolution, the trade union and co-operative movements and the suffragettes, this place has always fought for progress,” Craig said. “This place changed my life and I owe it everything. It gave me opportunities I could never have imagined, and I’ve spent my career trying to give something back.”

Craig is also deputy mayor for economy, business and inclusive growth on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, making her a continuity candidate in terms of familiarity with the regional brief. With Burnham now the overwhelming favourite for the Labour leadership and expected to enter Downing Street as early as next month, the Greater Manchester mayoral succession becomes part of the broader political transition happening across British politics this summer.

The significance of the gesture

Burnham’s salary donation announcement is the kind of personal gesture that has been a deliberate part of how he presents himself politically – not just as a policy advocate but as someone who tries to demonstrate his values in practice. His nine years of donations to tackle homelessness in Greater Manchester predated any leadership ambitions and gave the commitment credibility beyond symbolism.

New polling has Labour one point ahead of Reform under Burnham for the first time in over a year, with Burnham beating Farage 62-38 in a head-to-head preferred prime minister question. The salary pledge feeds into a broader narrative about what kind of leader Burnham intends to be – one rooted in community and place rather than the Westminster bubble, and one who practises what he advocates on inequality and public service.

Whether that narrative survives the transition from Makerfield MP to No 10 resident is a question that will be answered over the coming months. But starting with a donation to the community club where his campaign was run is a reasonably pointed statement of intent.