Liberal Democrats announce leader & deputy

9.40.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 5th May 2007

New Leader of Northampton Borough Council - Cllr Tony Woods

Northampton Borough Liberal Democrats have confirmed the Borough Council's leader and deputy will be Cllrs Tony Woods and Brendan Glynane following a decisive victory at Thursday's elections.

The two were elected unanimously this morning by the newly elected raft of 26 Liberal Democrat councillors.

Cllr Tony Woods also said the group has spoken to Labour councillor Lee Mason to confirm she will be the next Mayor of Northampton.

"Lee is a dedicated and long serving Councillor. She has been Deputy Mayor for the past year and we have every confidence that she will be an excellent representative of Northampton as Mayor. In the past the Mayoralty has been used as a political football when a new administration takes over. We are committed to making the Borough a more open and efficient council and want to keep the Mayoralty as a non-political position.

The Liberal Democrat Group will nominate Brian Markham to be the Deputy Mayor in 2007/08. Brian would then become Mayor for 2008/09.

"Whilst we have a majority on the council we will be looking to engage the other parties to achieve the significant improvements we all want to see for the town."