The new leader of the Conservative group in Enfield is hoping to unite his party and "stop the mischief making".

Councillor Terry Neville has been confirmed as the leader of the Enfield Conservative group following a heavy defeat at last month's council elections that led to a 19 seat majority for Labour.

Following disputes leading up to the election within the party, Cllr Neville said he was focused on keeping the party together.

He said: “Within our own party in Enfield, we need to get our associations working together and we need to put some of these problems we have had behind us and move on and realise the Conservative Party only works well when it works together.

“In order to take us forward we need to organise ourselves differently and we need to be holding the council to account more so because of its majority.

“We want to get the best people to serve our group. I want to stop the mischief making and I believe our 22 councillors are of top quality.”

In the election last month, the party lost seats in Chase, Southgate Green and Bush Hill Park wards.

Mr Neville said: “There were three losses in a row nationally. It goes in cycles, the general thing is there are lots of factors around this election.

“There was a UKIP factor, add to that because of the coalition, a lot of Liberal supporters have fled the party and pushed their votes to Labour. There were special circumstances but it is a pattern.

“The coalition has had to make some very harsh decisions and those decisions have affected everyone one way or another. People do react.”

The new council will meet tomorrow at the Civic Centre, in Silver Street, for the first time.