A CITY councillor has been appointed to lead the trade body for the country’s exam boards.

Labour councillor Tom Bewick, for Westbourne ward, will become chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies from May 1.

Councillor Bewick was an outspoken advocate for the Leave campaign in 2016 and announced in January he would be stepping back from frontline city politics.

FAB chairman Paul Eeles praised Cllr Bewick’s “exemplary track record” in the sector over 25 years.

Cllr Bewick said strong qualifications were “the engine room of a twenty-first century economy.”