Leeds City Council’s leader Keith Wakefield has revealed he will be stepping down to focus on delivering devolution.
Wakefield announced this afternoon that he would leaving Leeds to ‘campaign hard for the devolution the city and region needs to make further progress’.
Wakefield has been leader of the Leeds Labour Group for over a decade and sits on the committee of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
...spend more time on a challenge to achieve greater devolution for the Leeds City Region...
— Keith Wakefield (@CllrKWakefield) April 29, 2015
He will continue to be leader at the town hall until 21 May, when a new boss will be elected.
Wakefield said he was ‘immensely proud’ to have been part of a number of key local projects and moving forward to introduce the living wage.
Responding to the news, chief executive of Leeds City Council, Tom Riordan, said: ‘It’s been a privilege to work with such a dedicated leader as Cllr Wakefield, who is 100% committed to public service, local government and Leeds. Putting politics to one side, which he often did, I think it is safe to say that few would question his dedication to serving the city of Leeds and its people through a challenging period of change.
‘I believe that his optimistic vision for the future of local government as an enterprising force for positive civic change will stand the test of time and be symbolised in the history of Leeds by the great success of the Tour de France and the city’s economic resurgence.’
