THE Basingstoke Labour group has announced a new leader and deputy leader after Laura James and Paul Harvey stood down from their roles.

Councillor Gary Watts and Cllr Michael Westbrook have been named as the new leader and deputy leader of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s Labour group.

Former leader and deputy leader, Cllr Laura James and Cllr Paul Harvey, who are both councillors for the Norden ward, stepped down from their roles of eight years to allow people to rise up the ranks.

Cllr James told The Gazette: “I am pleased to be standing down and passing over to Gary. It is very positive. We have grown over the years from being nine councillors to 17 now and I think Gary will be a great leader, and Mike as well.

“I am going to be an active member of the group but it was the right time for me to stand down and hand it over. I am very proud of what we have achieved. We have challenged and highlighted things and bought forward our agenda.”

Cllr Harvey added: “It was eight years for me and Laura and the time was right after the General Election to move on. We are not going anywhere and we will carry on campaigning.

“We are a very strong team in Norden and myself, George and Laura will carry on representing the people in Norden and doing the job we were elected to do.”

And the new leader, Cllr Gary Watts, is ready for the challenge as leader of the opposition. The 48-year-old father-of-two returns to the role after his first stint as leader between 2006 and 20008.

He told The Gazette: “I feel privileged and I am looking forward to it. I am looking forward to the challenge and to try and be constructive where needed and I will take a pragmatic approach and pick our battles and try and represent the best of Basingstoke.

“My priorities as leader will be affordable homes. It seems that we are getting less and less affordable homes, and never many social homes, so we will need to fight to get the homes for local residents.”