Three Labour councillors to battle it out for leadership

THREE Labour councillors are battling it out for the leadership of Birmingham City Council.

The city’s ruling group of 80 Labour councillors will meet in private on Thursday (September 28) to choose their leader, who will then take over as council chief.

The election is being held after former council leader John Clancy was forced to resign over his handling of the bins dispute.

The overwhelming favourite to land the top job now is Shard End councillor Ian Ward, who has served as deputy leader of the Labour group since 2005 and has been the deputy leader of the council since 2012.

He was appointed interim council leader in the wake of Cllr Clancy’s resignation.

Two backbench councillors have also thrown their hats into the ring.

Selly Oak councillor Changese Khan is a relative newcomer to the city council, having only been elected for the first time in 2014.

He applied for a cabinet position under Cllr Clancy but missed out. However, last year he was appointed to the unpaid role of council ambassador with responsibility for monitoring and promoting the council’s vast pension fund.

The other challenger is Cllr Barry Henley, who stood for the leadership in 2015 and secured just one vote from the group – presumably his own.

The election will be via the single transferable vote system.

A councillor securing more than 50 per cent of the vote will win. If not, the third place candidate is eliminated and his supporters’ second preferences are then transferred in order to find the winner.

The Labour leader will then be appointed council leader by a vote at the next full council meeting.