Andy Burnham, while serving as mayor of Greater Manchester, attended two hospitality dinners with Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak at separate matches in 2017 and 2018.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) released a statement on Monday listing Burnham’s meetings with the club, noting a formal meeting in October 2021 and an informal encounter in the stands in 2019, but it did not specify the two earlier dinners.

A prior GMCA register, seen by the BBC, recorded a dinner with the then‑Manchester City Council leader Richard Leese and the club’s chair for an Everton match at the Etihad in August 2017, valued at £300, and another dinner at the Manchester City‑Manchester United derby in April 2018 valued at about £699.

Burnham had declared those hospitality expenses, along with a £150 pair of tickets to an Ed Sheeran concert at the stadium in May 2018, but the register entry was later removed from the GMCA website.

Downing Street defended the dinners as standard hospitality received at home games that had been declared, while opposition politicians, including Tory shadow sports minister Louie French and Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick, have called for full transparency on Burnham’s links to the club.

Burnham told the Rest Is Politics podcast that he would disclose all his dealings with Manchester City from his mayoral tenure and that the only significant meeting after the dinners was a formal one in 2021.

When questioned at Prime Minister’s Questions, Burnham said the club had not raised its Premier League breach charges with him, and his press secretary referred back to the GMCA statement for clarification on the omitted dinner details.