Oldham Conservatives have elected a new deputy leader after three councillors resigned from the shadow cabinet earlier this month.

At a meeting of the conservatives last week, Cllr Luke Lancaster was chosen as the group's new deputy leader.

He replaces Cllr Beth Sharp, who resigned from the post on July 11.

Speaking on his new role, Cllr Lancaster, who represents Saddleworth North, said: "Though I am a proud Saddleworth councillor and I remain resolutely focussed on fighting for our villages, I also want the whole borough to be better served.

"I am grateful to colleagues for supporting me to this position, and I intend to assist the leader in the discharge of his duties to the best of my abilities."

Cllr Lancaster was born and raised in Oldham, is an Oldham Athletic season ticket holder and is a former head boy at Oldham Hulme Grammar School.

Cllr Graham Sheldon, leader of the Oldham Conservatives, is looking forward to building a strong team with Cllr Lancaster as they provide opposition to the Labour-run council.

He said: "There are many issues of concern to Oldham residents - failures in tackling child sexual exploitation, ever-increasing council tax rates, and others – and we will robustly hold the administration to account on these issues."

Cllr Sheldon also thanked Cllr Sharp for her service.

She resigned from the shadow cabinet along with Cllr Dave Arnott and Cllr Robert Barnes in a shock move as they felt it was not appropriate to represent the group following a number of recent events, discussions and press briefings.

In a statement from Cllr Arnott at the time of the resignation, he said: “We have made difficult personal decisions to stand down from these roles on the council, but to be clear, we have not resigned as elected councillors and we have not resigned from the Conservative opposition group, which will continue to hold the Labour-run council to account exactly as before."