“Andy Burnham has not held any recent meetings with Manchester City ownership.” — Andy Burnham. Our verdict: True.

What we found

The numbers

The evidence

• Supports the claim

  The Greater Manchester Combined Authority's official statement lists meetings with Manchester City ownership in 2019 and 2021, and none in the recent period. [1]

• Background

  AOL reports that Burnham said on 'The Rest Is Politics' that none of his meetings with Manchester City ownership were recent, claiming he only had one significant meeting in 2021. [2]

• Background

  Front Office Sports corroborates that Burnham made statements about the timing of his meetings with Manchester City leadership during a podcast interview. [3]

• Background

  Plataforma Media reports that Burnham said financial charges were not discussed in his meetings with Manchester City ownership, and that he initiated the publication of records about these interactions. [4]

• Contradicts the claim

  A Reddit thread alleges Burnham attended hospitality dinners with the Manchester City chairman, but it gives no dates, so it cannot establish that any such dinners were recent. [5]

What we could not confirm

• Whether any undisclosed meetings took place, since the official record depends on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority's disclosure being complete.
• Whether the hospitality dinners alleged on Reddit happened, and if so, when — no dates were given, so we could not check whether they were recent.
• Burnham's exact wording in the podcast interview, as no full transcript or recording was available to us.

How we checked

We looked at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority's official statement on the former mayor's meetings, three news reports covering Burnham's podcast interview, and a Reddit thread alleging hospitality dinners. We compared the dates in the official record with the claim and checked whether the reports matched Burnham's own words. We reviewed 5 relevant sources.