A former Northwich Town Councillor who was educated in Winsford is making a comeback to frontline politics after being asked to join Sir Keir Starmer’s Government.

Sir David Hanson will take up a ministerial role in the Home Office as part of the new Labour administration.

He has a long history in both national and Cheshire politics, serving as a Labour councillor and later leader of Vale Royal Borough Council between 1989 and 1991.

Educated in Winsford, he also served on Northwich Town Council.

Sir David was elected as MP for Delyn in Deeside in 1992, with ministerial stints in the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, also serving as Minister of State for Northern Ireland and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales.  He was also parliamentary private secretary to then Prime Minister Tony Blair between 2001 and 2005.

He lost his seat to the Conservatives in 2019 and was knighted in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to politics, taking a seat in the House of Lords.

Following his party’s election success, Sir Keir has now appointed Sir David as a minister in the Home Office.

Posting online, Sir David said: "I’ve been asked by the PM to go to work in the Home Office as minister of state from the House of Lords.

"There are immense challenges but I’m looking forward to being of service to the country and labour Government in that role and supporting (Home Secretary) Yvette Cooper."

Following the news, he was congratulated by current Cheshire West and Chester council leader Louise Gittins, and former Weaver Vale and now Runcorn and Helsby MP Mike Amesbury.

Before politics he worked for the Cooperative Society and disabled charity Scope.

Although no longer serving MPs, like David Cameron in the previous government, peers in the House of Lords can hold ministerial positions in Government but do not sit in the House of Commons.

Other non-MPs to have been assigned roles include Sir Patrick Valance, the former government chief scientific adviser during the Covid pandemic who will serve as Minister for Science, along with James Timpson, CEO of the Timpson Group who has been appointed as the new Prisons Minister.