Birmingham City Council Labour party elects leader

Birmingham City Council's Labour leader has defended his position as party leader following Labour's best local election results for nearly a decade.

Labour won 14 seats on 5 May and is the biggest group on the council with 55 seats. No party has overall control.

John Clancy won the Quinton seat and challenged Sir Albert Bore, Ladywood ward member, for the party leadership.

Sir Albert has been the party leader for the past 12 years and was re-elected at the Labour group's AGM.

The deputy Labour leader, Councillor Ian Ward, who represents Shard End, was also re-elected.

He had faced a leadership contest at Saturday's meeting from the newly-elected Sparkbrook ward member Tony Kennedy.

Mr Ward said: "I am delighted with the confidence my colleagues have shown in the leadership of Albert and myself today. I thank them for their support.

"The priority for the coming year must be to prepare ourselves for gaining an outright majority and taking control of the council."

A third of the council's seats were contested on 5 May and the council continues to be run by a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition with a total of 63 seats between them.