Manchester council elects first woman leader

Bev Craig has been announced as the new leader of Manchester council.

She is the first woman and the first openly LGBT person to take up the role.

At a Labour meeting on Tuesday it was decided that Cllr Craig will replace Sir Richard Leese.

Sir Richard will step down as leader on December 1 after 25 years.

Cllr Craig has played a prominent role in the city’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and was recently appointed the council’s deputy leader.

She moved to Manchester from Northern Ireland in 2003 and was the first in her family to attend university.

She was first elected as a councillor for Burnage in 2011.

In a recent interview with the Manchester Evening News she said: “Growing up gay, on a council estate just outside Belfast, I didn’t ever think politics could be for someone like me.”