Until May 2019 the Conservatives held 53 of the 82 seats on Cheshire East Council, but on 2nd May Labour increased its seats from 19 to 25 and the Conservatives lost 19 seats. I was elected Leader with support from Independent and Liberal Democrat councillors. In opposition the Labour group had repeatedly exposed Conservative failures and in the run up to the election we printed 40,000 booklets summarising our detailed, fully-costed manifesto.

The manifesto also provides a clear plan for the new administration at Cheshire East Council to follow.

A key theme for the new Labour & Co-operative Leader at Cheshire East Council will be addressing climate change. Climate change is the greatest challenge facing our generation and for too long we have not risen to the challenge. At the last general election I was pleased to see the Labour Industrial Strategy which sets out a path to tackle climate change. I was even more pleased to see that, following a motion put forward by Jeremy Corbyn, Parliament declared an environment and climate emergency in May this year.

We can tackle climate change and win, but it needs to be addressed on an international scale, a national scale, a local scale and an individual scale. Cheshire East Council and everyone reading this has a part to play in that. We can set the agenda. We can change behaviours. We can change minds and hearts. Or we can carry on as we are and change the climate for the worse.

By acting together on climate change and showing leadership on this issue we can rebuild the reputation of politicians, rebuild our economy and safeguard our planet.