A LEADING politician has donned a Big Issue tabard to try his hand at selling the magazine and gain an insight into what it is like to earn a living as a vendor.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham sold the magazine alongside veteran vendor Colin in Manchester city centre.
Mr Burnham, the former Leigh MP, is on the front cover of this week’s Big Issue magazine across the north of England and joined Colin on his pitch to support his local vendor.
He said: “It’s nice to spend time with the most famous man in Greater Manchester. Truly, Colin is much-loved and I have got to know him quite well over the years since I became mayor.
“We’ve had a really big change with The Big Issue but it’s still a really important thing and a big part in helping people moving on from where they are and we really support it.
“I’m out here showing Colin I support him and supporting The Big Issue more broadly, everything it stands for, everything it’s done, everything it’s achieved.
“A lot of people in Greater Manchester are fully behind it and we always will be.”
Mr Burnham is one of Colin’s regular customers.
The vendor was living in a Salvation Army hostel in Birmingham when he first started selling the magazine to earn an income.
He moved to Manchester in 2010 and has been selling the magazine in the city ever since.
In an interview with The Big Issue, the Manchester mayor speaks out on his efforts to tackle homelessness across Greater Manchester, as well as the Prince of Wales’s own homelessness campaign, and moving beyond the culture wars he believes have “polluted” political debate in Westminster.
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