Former leader of city council given Labour peerage

FORMER Newcastle Council leader Nick Forbes is making his way to the House of Lords.

- OLIVIA SHEED

It comes as Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has appointed more than two dozen new peers as he seeks to pack out Labour's numbers in the UK Parliament's second chamber.

The appointments do not mean, however, that Labour are now the majority, with Tory numbers still highest.

Iceland boss Richard Walker, who abandoned the Tories for Labour, was also named in the political peerage list, along with former Downing Street communications chief Matthew Doyle and chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves' former chief of staff, Katie Martin.