The leader of Newcastle City Council has failed to be selected to stand again for Labour in the local elections in May.

Nick Forbes is a member of the party’s National Executive Committee and a senior figure in the Local Government Association.

Seen as a moderate or centrist, the 48-year-old has led the Labour-run local authority since 2011 and been a controversial figure during austerity, making cuts which he said were forced on him by central government.

On Tuesday night he lost a vote to be selected as Labour candidate for the Arthur’s Hill ward in Newcastle in the May elections, after more than 20 years as a councillor.

He will lose his place on the council unless he is parachuted in as a candidate in another ward.

According to the Newcastle-based Chronicle, Mr Forbes lost 13-4 to local activist Abdul Samad.

In 2019 Mr Forbes failed in a bid to be the Labour candidate for North of Tyne mayor, losing to eventual winner Jamie Driscoll, who was seen as more left-wing.

A source said Mr Forbes, who sometimes attends the shadow cabinet, had opposed Jeremy Corbyn when he was party leader, which made him a target for left-wingers.

He survived a leadership challenge last year, but the insider felt it was unlikely that Mr Forbes would try to be parachuted into another ward as he could be targeted again.

The source said: “What makes it particularly brutal is if he had just been defeated as council leader he could have stayed as a councillor and remained on the LGA, but if he is not an elected representative, that’s the end of it.”

As well as having pro-Corbyn enemies, Mr Forbes did not navigate the “cliques” of local Newcastle politics, sticking to his own side too much, the source added.