Sir Keir Starmer has paid tribute to Newcastle’s outgoing council leader, after Nick Forbes revealed that he will stand down in May.
After 11 years in the top civic centre post, the 48-year-old will be bowing out from city politics after this year’s local elections – having suffered a shock deselection by Labour Party members in his own Arthur’s Hill ward.
Coun Forbes announced on Monday evening that he would not seek re-election in another seat in a bid to cling onto power, saying that withdrawing from May’s elections and therefore bringing his tenure as council leader to an end was the “one honourable choice available to me”.
