Former Blackpool Council leader backs new appointment

Councillors voted by an overwhelming majority for Coun Williams to replace Coun Simon Blackburn in the role at a full meeting of the council held on Zoom video.

Coun Williams had been acting leader since Coun Blackburn stepped down at the end of June after he was suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation into allegations made against him.

Coun Blackburn, who has denied all the allegations, said after the meeting he fully backed the new leader.

He said: “I am 100 per cent certain that once the Labour Party have completed their investigations, I will be fully exonerated.

“Lynn will be a brilliant leader, and I am very proud of the fact that we now have a woman in the job, for the first time. ”

The new appointment is formally until the end of the current administration in 2023, and Coun Blackburn refused to be drawn on whether he could return to the role in the future.

He said: “Once I am back on the Labour benches, I will serve in whatever role my colleagues ask me to.”

Coun Williams’ appointment was proposed by Coun Ivan Taylor and seconded by Coun Kath Benson.

Coun Taylor, who is also the new deputy leader, said: “Her hurricane advancement in politics holds no bounds, so I can’t imagine where she will be in another five years.

“At the rate she is going, there is no end to it. I really look forward very much to working with her.”

Coun Williams was first elected to the council in 2015 and was previously chairman of the planning committee, before being appointed deputy leader and cabinet member with responsibility for children’s services earlier this year.