Cheshire East's leader has said stability and a sustainable financial position for the council can only be achieved if councillors of all political persuasions work hard to achieve it.

Cllr Nick Mannion (Macclesfield, Lab) was speaking after being re-elected as council leader at Wednesday's (May 14) meeting at Tatton Park.

Forty-one councillors voted in favour of him staying on as leader, 33 against and three abstained.

Cllr Michael Gorman (Wilmslow, Ind) was re-elected as deputy council leader with 44 voting in favour and 33 against.

Cllr Mannion paid tribute to Cllr Janet Clowes, who has stepped down as Conservative group leader due to ill health, and said he knew he, new Conservative group leader Stewart Gardiner and deputy Liz Wardlaw 'will do their best to work together for the benefit of all'.

He then referred to the 'unexpected' issuing of the non-statutory best value notice last week from the government saying the council must improve at a faster rate, describing it as a 'surprise and disappointment'.

"Much of the work referred to in the notice is already underway and so there has already been considerable progress to report," said Cllr Mannion.

"We are taking action plans to the earliest available publicly held committee meetings."

Cllr Mannion told the meeting: "We set a balanced budget for 2025/26 with the use of exceptional financial support ('EFS').

"If we deliver that, we are lessening the risk of a section 114.

"During 2024/25 whilst we used EFS we at the same time managed to strengthen our reserves and set ourselves on the right track if we sustain progress and deliver what we say we have set out to."

He said the council had also recently had confirmation of strong progress in improving its children and family services after the Ofsted re-visit earlier this year, following last year's inadequate rating.

"The journey to stability and a sustainable financial position for the council can only be achieved if we all, yes every single one of the 82 elected members of this council, each play our full part and contributes to the improvement journey at Cheshire East Council," said Cllr Mannion.