Medway Labour elects Vince Maple as its new leader
Medway Labour has elected Vince Maple
unanimously as its new group leader.
Cllr Maple, who at 34 is the youngest Labour Group Leader
in the south east, takes over from Paul Godwin who has stepped
down after 13 years in the role.
Cllr Maple said: "It is a great honour to
have been elected by my colleagues to the post of group
leader. It will be a difficult act to follow Paul's leadership
for the last 13 years.
“I will continue to hold the administration
to account and stand up for all residents of
Medway. Politics has got a bad reputation in recent years, so
I want to rebuild people's trust over time.
"I want to make sure people feel
their voice is being heard, because I know not listening is a
complaint I hear repeatedly about the current Tory
administration. The Labour team want to work with people
across Medway to make it an even better place to work, learn and
live."
Prior to focusing on local government service,
Vince was a trade union officer for the GMB
union, previously working as a civil servant in the
Department of Work & Pensions and the Home
Office.
He has served as Labour spokesperson on the
council’s children’s services and finance committees and has
been deputy leader of the group for the last year.
Vince was former Labour MP Jonathan Shaw's
election agent in the 2005 and 2010 general elections and was
recently elected to the South East Region Board of the Labour
Party.
Vince has spearheaded the End Legal Loan
Sharks campaign in Medway and also worked with families and
communities to successfully defend primary schools in
Rochester and Chatham from the threat of closure.
Vince has lived in Chatham for most of life,
moving here as a child when his Dad was in the Royal
Navy. Vince attended Luton Infant and Junior Schools and the
Howard School. He currently lives with his partner Mary in Chatham
Central ward, which he has represented since 2007.
Cllr Paul Godwin, who remains as a Chatham
Central ward councillor, said: "My sincere congratulations to Cllr
Vince Maple on being elected as the new Labour Group leader. From
my experience of working with Vince I know that he will do a great
job in taking us forward in the future and he has my full
support”
Labour's new deputy leader is Cllr Teresa
Murray who was also elected unanimously to the post.
She said: "I’ll be very pleased to support
Vince in his new role; he has proved himself to be a great champion
for the people of Medway and represents them with energy and
enthusiasm.
“Paul Godwin’s leadership has served us well
and we will continue to have the benefit of his extensive knowledge
of local government in the Labour Group.”
Teresa Murray, who lives in
Rochester, has been a councillor on Medway Council since
2000.
She was the Labour parliamentary
candidate in the 2010 general election for Rochester and
Strood.
She currently works in further education as
head of faculty for public and retail services at Midkent
College.
01/05/12
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