THE NEW council’s Labour group has selected Lisa Brown as its deputy leader and she hopes her appointment is an inclusive message to women.

Councillor Brown is Carlisle City Council’s Labour group leader and will assume the role of deputy leader in the new Cumberland Council’s group.

Mark Fryer has been selected as the leader and Emma Williamson as deputy leader for Copeland.

Cumberland Labour are likely to take control of the new unitary council in the first meeting of its Shadow Authority next Tuesday as they took a clear majority of 30 seats in last week’s election.

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Cllr Brown said: “Considering I was elected in a by-election in 2018 to now, I think it just proves what hard-work and determination can do.”

Councillor Brown is the city council’s ward member for Denton Holme and Morton South.

“The big message to any women out there that want to have a say in politics but think they can’t because they’ve childcare, caring responsibilities, you can.”

Cllr Brown has campaigned for diversity in politics and is happy with the make-up of the new council: “We’ve got some really good talent there, the average age of councillors is down, we’ve got Abdul Harid and Joseph Ghayouba as our BAME councillors, there’s women councillors but I would like to see a few more.

“People at home, their minds can be put at ease that it’s people just like them representing them, people that have the same lived experiences as they do.”

Cumberland Council will takeover in Carlisle, Allerdale and Copeland by April 2023.

But first the new unitary council must complete the transition process as a Shadow Authority, co-existing with the existing county, city and borough councils for the next 12 months.

When preparatory work is complete the existing councils will be abolished and Cumberland Council will become the single responsible authority in the patch.