Nick Forbes
CBE
Leader of the Labour Group of the Local Government Association
In office
6 January 2016 – 10 June 2022
Attending Shadow Cabinet: 6 April 2020 – 10 June 2022
Preceded byJim McMahon
Succeeded byShaun Davies
Leader of Newcastle City Council
In office
5 May 2011 – 25 May 2022
Preceded byDavid Faulkner
Succeeded byNick Kemp
Member of Newcastle City Council
In office
4 May 2000 – 6 May 2022
WardMoorside (2000–2004)
Westgate (2004–2018)
Arthur's Hill (2018–2022)
Preceded byJ. Fear
Succeeded byAbdul Samad
Personal details
Born
Nicholas Iain Forbes

(1973-11-08) 8 November 1973 (age 50)
County Durham, England
Political partyLabour
Alma materSelwyn College, Cambridge (BA)
Sheffield Hallam University
Open University (MA)

Nicholas Ian Forbes CBE (born 8 November 1973) is a British politician who served as the Leader of the Labour Group of the Local Government Association from 2016 to 2022. He was Leader of Newcastle City Council from 2011 to 2022. In 2020, Forbes was appointed to Labour Leader Keir Starmer's Shadow Cabinet, serving until 2022[1]

Early life

Nicholas Ian Forbes was born on 8 November 1973 in County Durham.[2][3][4][5] He is openly gay and a patron of LGBT+ Labour.[6][7][8]

Forbes attended Wolsingham Comprehensive School in Weardale, County Durham, before studying social and political sciences at Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he obtained an upper second class honours degree.[9] He later studied for a management diploma from Sheffield Hallam University, and a master's degree in music from the Open University.[4]

Political career

Nick Forbes became a councillor in May 2000, representing the Westgate part of the city, and went on to become leader of the Labour group in May 2007.[10] In 2011, he became leader of the council following the 2011 local elections which saw the Liberal Democrats suffer heavy losses across the city, as well as nationally. He has been an extensive critic of the government's fiscal policy of cuts in funding to local government, and defended a policy of particularly cutting arts funding in the city in response.[11][12] Forbes is critical of Universal Credit.[13]

In February 2016, Forbes succeeded Jim McMahon as Labour's leader of the Local Government Association.[14] According to the LGA's website, Forbes "has played a leading role in raising the profile of local government in a time of austerity made economic growth a key feature of his council, securing new financial powers by negotiating one of the first round of City Deals with government. He has worked with leaders from across England to secure devolution packages for local government."[15] Forbes also served as the LGA's Senior Vice Chair.[15]

In 2019, Forbes unsuccessfully sought selection to be Labour's candidate in the 2019 North of Tyne mayoral election, losing to Jamie Driscoll.[16][17]

As a result of being deselected by the Labour branch in his Arthur's Hill seat ahead of the 2022 council election, Forbes stepped down as Labour group leader.[18] He stepped down as leader of the city council on 5 May 2022.[19][20]

Honours

Forbes was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to local government.[21]

References

  1. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Shadow cabinet paired with Labour council leaders".
  2. ^ Butler, Patrick (8 January 2013). "Newcastle council leader: arts cuts are inevitable result of coalition policy". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  3. ^ "Search Results: Nick Forbes". GenesReunited.
  4. ^ a b "Nicholas Iain FORBES". Companies House. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021.
  5. ^ "Nicholas Iain FORBES - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  6. ^ "Patrons".
  7. ^ "Is saving Newcastle a mission impossible? | John Harris". TheGuardian.com. 24 November 2014.
  8. ^ "Day against homophobia".
  9. ^ Andrew Hankinson, 'Nick Forbes: Newcastle’s king of cuts', New Statesman, 15 January 2013. Accessed 28 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Leader of the council". Newcastle City Council. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  11. ^ Harris, John (24 November 2014). "Is saving Newcastle a mission impossible?". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  12. ^ Harris, John; Mason, Rowena (24 November 2014). "Funding crisis leaves Newcastle facing 'impossible cuts' and social unrest". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  13. ^ Forbes, Nick (15 October 2017). "Universal credit is returning my city to the days of Cathy Come Home". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  14. ^ Pope, Conor (6 February 2016). "Nick Forbes elected new leader of Labour's local government group". Labour List. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  15. ^ a b "Chairman and Vice-Chairs". Local Government Association.
  16. ^ Seddon, Sean (15 November 2018). "Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes explains why he's running to be North of Tyne mayor". Chronicle. Newcastle upon Tyne. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  17. ^ Seddon, Sean (20 February 2019). "Who is Jamie Driscoll? Labour's left-wing North of Tyne mayoral candidate". nechronicle. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  18. ^ Holland, Daniel (14 March 2022). "Nick Kemp wins race to succeed Nick Forbes as Newcastle Labour leader". ChronicleLive. He [Kemp] immediately becomes Labour group leader and is expected to formally become leader of the council at the local authority's AGM on May 25.
  19. ^ Holland, Daniel (21 February 2022). "Nick Forbes confirms exit as Newcastle City Council leader". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  20. ^ "Newcastle council's Labour group elects Nick Kemp to replace Forbes". 15 March 2022. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  21. ^ Sharma, Sonia (28 December 2018). "Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes gets CBE in New Year Honours". nechronicle. Retrieved 29 December 2018.

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