THE leader of Bolton’s Conservative party has said he will look to “freshen up” his shadow cabinet by moving several positions around.

Cllr David Greenhalgh has been re-elected as the leader of the party in Bolton after the local elections, with Astley Bridge councillor Hilary Fairclough continuing as deputy leader and Bradshaw councillor Mudasir Dean retaining his position of chief whip.

Cllr Greenhalgh is currently mulling over his options in terms of which portfolios to hand to his team.

He said: “I am certainly looking at refreshing things — some people will be staying and some will be changing.”

He said that one of his priorities is to return newly-elected Heaton and Lostock councillor Andy Morgan to the health brief that he held before he lost his Hulton seat last year.

Cllr Greenhalgh added: “It is important that Andrew returns to the health area because he knows a tremendous amount on that subject.”

Speaking about other potential changes, he added: “We tend to go on our own expertise but sometimes decisions made on the other side can influence how we choose people.

“If a big hitter from Labour gets a certain portfolio then we will tend to cater for that.

"Sometimes the decisions taken by the cabinet can indicate some upcoming intentions in that particular area that we don’t yet know about.”