Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to Speak at the ABCUL Annual Conference 2024

Friday 1 March 2024

The Association is delighted to add Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham to the agenda of the ABCUL Annual Conference 2024, as special guest speaker on Saturday 16 March.
Andy Burnham became Greater Manchester’s first elected mayor under the new regional devolution deal in May 2017. He was formerly MP for Leigh and held numerous ministerial positions in the Labour Government’s of the 2000s including Secretary of State for Health and Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport.

Andy was elected Mayor of the Greater Manchester City Region promising an era of economic localism. He is a member of the Co-operative Party and is committed to supporting the development of co-operatives as a means of delivering better economic and social outcomes for the people of Greater Manchester.

“We are delighted to welcome Andy Burnham to our annual conference event in March,” says ABCUL CEO, Robert Kelly. “The Mayor has been a supporter of our sector and in particular the SoundPound alliance of credit unions across Greater Manchester, which is typified by his pledge to speak to delegates of our conference this month in Manchester”

Speaking at events in the past, Andy has spoken about the vital role of credit unions in the social economy play and how important it is that people saving with their local credit union creates a social impact throughout communities. Last year, when attending an event on behalf of the SoundPound consortium, Andy said: “Credit unions represent a positive, safe solution to short term credit pressures. Credit unions have existed in local communities across GB for over 50 years and responsible lending is in our DNA. We work with individuals to help them through challenging times so that they can grow their financial resilience and kickstart savings habits for the long term, whatever their income level”

Further information about the ABCUL Annual Conference 2024 is available on the ABCUL website.