THE leader of City of York Council has stepped down after four years in the role, to take up a post supporting Ed Miliband ahead of the General Election.

Councillor James Alexander said he would leave the council at next May, hours after opposition councillors announced they would call for a vote of no confidence in him.

Conservative members of the authority had accused Cllr Alexander of concentrating on vanity projects and accused him of seeking to "big up York for his own personal aggrandisement" rather than addressing residents' concerns.

Cllr Alexander, 32, who was one of the youngest council leaders in the country when he led Labour to a landslide victory in 2011, said under his watch the council had turned "a city in stagnation on to the path to prosperity".

His new role will see him overseeing transport, local government, housing, culture, media and sport policies for the Labour Party.

The move has sparked fresh calls for all 50,000 motorists who were fined for crossing Lendal Bridge in central York during its controversial trial closure last year to be refunded.

Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Keith Aspden said Cllr Alexander's resignation presented a fresh opportunity for the authority to rethink its policies, including those over the controversial bridge closure.

Cllr Alexander said if opposition councillors wanted to repay fines in full, they needed to accept that money could not be spent on mending potholes, for which it was earmarked.