WARRINGTON North constituency Labour Party's chairman (CLP) was re-elected on Friday – after having his name picked out of a hat following a level contest.

Cllr Tony Higgins (LAB – Fairfield and Howley) went head to head with Maureen Banner but the pair were unable to be split after two counts.

Both names were then put into a hat to determine the outcome before Cllr Higgins was confirmed as the winner.

As well as Cllr Higgins' appointment, Ms Banner was elected as vice chairman, Beth Purnell as secretary, Sagheer Zaman as ethnic minorities representative and Cllr Pat Wright remains as treasurer.

The CLP was criticised in a damning report in October 2013 by the national Labour Party and seven recommendations were made at the time for improvements.

But Cllr Higgins is vowing to 'continue strengthening the constituency' and also hope stronger links will be formed with Warrington South Labour.

He said: "I feel privileged to have been elected to serve a second year as chairman.

"I am really positive about the team and this next year ahead, it is great to see so many new members – it is onwards and upwards from here.

"We will be working closely with Warrington South and doing joint campaigns – it is imperative that Warrington North and Warrington South work together.

"We need to return a Labour MP in the south as well and with the all-out election in May it is crucial that we return Labour councillors.

"More and more will be done to work together and I will continually be speaking to members from there to see what the best way forward is for Labour."

Cllr Higgins also highlighted the impact Jeremy Corbyn has had since defying the odds to become Labour leader.

"He is proving to be really popular and that is why we are getting so many new members," he added.

"But it is what I expected to happen – this is a really exciting time and we need to keep building on it."