Andy Burnham snubs Jeremy Corbyn's rally in Manchester hours after becoming its mayor
The new mayor of Greater Manchester did not return to attend the event held by his party leader
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Your support makes all the difference.Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn received an apparent snub from Andy Burnham one of his party's few big winners on a day when his party suffered heavy losses.
Mr Corbyn held a rally with supporters on the steps of the Manchester Convention Centre, shortly after Mr Burnham was elected to the post of mayor of Greater Manchester with a thumping majority.
But while Mr Corbyn described Mr Burnham's majority as "stupendous" his colleague had left the conference centre and did not return to attend the event held by his party leader.
Instead Mr Corbyn, who received a tumultuous reception from around 200 supporters, said: "I have been in touch with Andy to congratulate him and he's already hard at work on behalf of the people of the Greater Manchester region.
"And I congratulate all our mayoral candidates for the work they did. Our message now has to be to challenge the Tories. Absolutely challenge them."
Mr Corbyn was cheered and clapped as he gave a passionate speech against homelessness and zero hours contracts and tax cuts for the wealthy, promising a Labour government "for the many, not the few".
Mr Burnham was not available for comment.
The former MP for Leigh, won a majority of votes in the first round of counting with 63 per cent of the vote.
After securing the win, the newly elected Mayor said: “You have given me a big job to do and a big job with which to do it. I will give it my all and I won't let you down. All I can saw is wow, 63 per cent of the vote – pretty good."
Mr Burnham said Britain's political system “had been too London-centric for too long” and that there was a “crisis in politics”.
He continued: “Greater Manchester is going to take control, we are going to change politics and make it work better for people. We will give power and purpose to those people and places that Westminster has left behind. We will get the voice of the North heard more clearly than ever before.”
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