Harrow Borough Council has announced its new cabinet, made up of members of the new Independent Labour group which broke away last week.

The new cabinet has been cut down to five portfolio holders from eight and will also include two non-voting members from the Conservative party.

Leader of Harrow Council, Councillor Thaya Idaikkadar will be responsible for finance, contracts and procurement, business transformation, customer service and communications and corporate services.

Deputy leader Cllr Asad Omar will be responsible for environment, community and culture and housing.

Cllr Zarina Khalid, is the new cabinet member for children, families and schools, and Cllr Krishna James is the new cabinet member for adult social care, health and wellbeing and Cllr William Stoodley will be the new cabinet member for planning and regeneration.

Cllr Idaikkadar said: “I am delighted to announce the make-up of Harrow Council’s new cabinet. I look forward to working alongside my colleagues to make Harrow a better place for our residents.

“There will be no great changes in policy. The council has agreed a two-year budget and Corporate Plan which will continue to set the direction of the council. However, we will review one or two areas to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect the services that our residents care about.

“Finally, I would like to reiterate that we are not in coalition with either of the other parties. We are truly independent and will make our decisions based on what is best for the people of Harrow.”

The Independent Labour group has nine members, after Cllr William Stoodley today announced he was defecting from the Labour group.

Conservative leader Cllr Susan Hall and Tory deputy leader Barry Macleod-Cullinane will be non-executive members of the cabinet.