Big Green Hustings: Greater Manchester Mayoral Election 2026

Candidates will be asked about their plans for a greener, healthier and more resilient Greater Manchester. Other hustings and events will be better placed to discuss issues that are not related to these issues. 

Key themes are likely to include: 

• Increasing local resilience to a changing climate, including flooding, drought, heatwaves and extreme weather
• Restoring nature and bringing wildlife back into communities
• Improving access to high-quality parks, rivers and nature rich spaces where you live
• Cleaning up our rivers, streams and waterways
• Making planning, development and regeneration work better for nature and people
• The Mayor's role in unlocking clean power production and lowering household energy bills
• Supporting greener neighbourhoods, active travel and healthier places
• Ensuring that nature recovery has tangible benefits communities across all parts of Greater Manchester
• Using the powers and influence of the Mayor to deliver practical environmental change near where you live. 

This will be a chaired debate hosted by Anne Selby. Anne is the former CEO of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside and currently the chair of the Greater Manchester Local Nature Partnership. Anne will be hosting impartially, giving every speaker an equal chance to speak to voters and express their views. 

The purpose of this debate is to give voters and communities a fair opportunity to hear from candidates on nature, climate and the environment. 

The event will be run according to the following principles: 

• Fairness: candidates will be given equal opportunity to respond.
• Focus: the chair will keep the discussion focused on nature, climate, environmental leadership and the powers of the Mayor.
• Respect: the event will be conducted in a respectful manner, all candidates will be heard.
• Accessibility: questions can be submitted in advance through the registration form.
• Accountability: candidates will be asked about practical commitments and how they would deliver them if elected. 

Questions will be drawn from those submitted in advance by attendees and partner organisations. This helps ensure that the discussion covers the issues that matter most to communities while allowing the chair to keep the event balanced and focused. The hustings guidance recommends using pre-submitted questions to ensure significant issues are not missed and to allow partner or community organisations to contribute constructively. 

Candidates from the following parties have been invited to attend: 

• Labour — Bev Craig
• Reform UK — Sian Astley
• Green Party — Geraldine Coggins
• Conservative — Phil Eckersley
• Liberal Democrats — Richard Kilpatrick 

Advice from the Charity Commission makes it clear that for a non-selective hustings like this one, an impartial choice of invitations can be based on: 

• Resources and other practicalities that limit the numbers of people you can invite, for example time or space
• Security concerns
• Local prominence of some parties or candidates over others
• The number of elected representatives at the local or national level
• Recent election results in the area   

Due to limited time and the need to give each candidate a fair chance to answer questions across a full range of nature and climate issues, invitations have been limited to candidates from the five largest national parties. This approach is intended to support a fair, balanced and practical discussion while allowing voters to compare candidates’ responses on the same issues. 

The event is being run on a non-party-political basis. The Wildlife Trust does not support or oppose any political party or candidate, in line with our charitable objectives and charity commission guidance. 

For questions about the event, please contact: 

Alan Wright
awright@lancswt.org.uk
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside