The leader of Bury council is to quit - to take up a job with Birmingham City Council.

Councillor Rishi Shori will work for the leader of the West Midlands council, Ian Ward. He will work as head of a team advising on policy, in the city where he graduated. The move ends speculation that Coun Shori might be standing for Labour as a Parliamentary candidate.

He will stand down on July 10th.

In 2016 he made history by becoming Bury's youngest council leader - and the first-ever in Greater Manchester from a black or minority ethnic background.

Since 2009 he has represented Radcliffe West. He was appointed to the leadership team of Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, and asked to lead on policy development around young people and social cohesion.

Coun Shori’s parents were born in India then moved to Uganda before arriving in Britain as immigrants in the 1970s. He was born in Walshaw and lives in Radcliffe, near Bury.

A former Bury Grammar School pupil who graduated from Birmingham University, he joined the Labour Party in 2004 and was elected as a councillor in the Radcliffe West ward by just nine votes in a by-election in 2009 after the then party leader, Wayne Campbell, stood down.

Coun Shori, 38, who has a fitness machine in his office, said: "It has been an absolute privilege to serve as leader of the council in the borough in which I was born and raised.

"Despite the difficult circumstances in which we operate both locally and nationally, exciting times lie ahead for the borough. A new University Centre of Excellence is to open next year; ambitious plans are in place regenerate the centres of Prestwich, Radcliffe and Whitefield; and more   than £30m of funding has been secured for investment in Bury town centre.

"Our growth plans will lead to the building of more affordable housing and see land made available for existing businesses to grow and new ones to relocate to Bury."

"The formal merger of NHS Bury CCG and the council is almost complete, which is the biggest reform of how public services operate within our borough for decades. It will provide us with the opportunity to integrate health and social care to get the best possible outcomes for residents."

Councillor Andrea Simpson, deputy leader of the council, said: "I would like to thank Rishi for his hard work as leader. He took over the council at a time when it was in desperate need of reform. He began by bringing people into the council with the right skills that have helped deliver important changes such as integration of health and social care.

"He has also helped put the borough on the map at regional level securing multi-million pounds for important regeneration schemes and infrastructure."

Councillor Rishi Shori
Councillor Rishi Shori

Bury South MP, Ivan Lewis, said: "Rishi Shori has been the outstanding leader of a new generation which is taking Bury forward. He has courageously confronted head-on the difficult issues which for too long had prevented Bury council from being the dynamic, innovative organisation the borough needs.

"The radical changes Rishi has made are the foundations on which his successors can now build a better future for our communiites. These changes would never have happened without his personal drive, resilience, and strength of character."

Last September Bury's Labour Group denied 'a culture of bullying' after a senior female councillor quit.

Annette McKay, 64, resigned from the party alleging she and seven other women councillors were 'frozen out' by the leadership.

She and seven other women made a formal complaint to the party which was investigated by a unit based at the national party headquarters. A spokesman said the probe found no grounds to take any action.

Commenting on the allegations, at the time, Coun Shori, said: “I go out of my way to encourage and empower her (Coun McKay) and I am caught up in a storm that has no merit.”

The Labour Group will choose a new leader on Monday and they are scheduled to be formally elected at the full council meeting on Wednesday next week.