Garry Bridges is new Manchester City Council boss

Councillor Garry Bridges has been elected as the new Manchester City Council leader.

He won a vote to become Manchester Labour group leader on Tuesday night and is set to be formally appointed as council leader on Thursday.

Representing the Old Moat ward in south Manchester, Bridges previously served as deputy council leader under Bev Craig before she was elected as mayor of Greater Manchester in July.

He has acted as interim council leader since Craig left the town hall.

Councillor Pat Karney, secretary of Manchester Labour group, said Bridges would be "a worthy successor to the great Labour leaders we have had".

"The leadership contest was friendly and orderly. We try to minimise town-hall drama in Manchester and concentrate on services for Mancunians," he said.

"The new era begins."

Councillor Bridges has an immediate challenge to face with the Burnage by-election on 10 September, where Craig's former seat is up for grabs in a ward which voted Green in the local elections in May.

Next year's local elections could also prove tricky for Manchester Labour to navigate after the group lost seats to both the Greens and Reform this May.

The Manchester Labour group meeting saw Manchester's 63 Labour councillors gather to choose their new leader.

Garry Bridges put himself forward for the top job running against councillor Thomas Robinson, the executive member for adult social care and health, and Baguley councillor Munaver Rasul.

The three candidates addressed the meeting about their plans for Manchester, and then faced questions from Labour councillors.

Bridges now has the job of running the city of Manchester with its £1bn council budget and huge range of services it provides to residents, from bin collections to social care.

He takes over at a time of enormous change in the city, where major regeneration projects are powering ahead and creating new homes and jobs, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

But the new leader also has major problems to tackle, with rough sleeping at its highest level in two years and growing numbers of families staying in emergency housing, among other issues.

Manchester City Council is run by the Labour Party which holds 63 seats, next to the opposition Greens with 21, seven Reform UK councillors, and four Lib Dems.

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