Ward is a member of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Board of Directors and headed the English city's bid for this year's Commonwealth Games when it was the sole candidate to replace Durban in South Africa, which withdrew in 2017.

A councillor for Shard End since 1995, Ward and was elected as Council Leader in 2017.

Ward was re-elected on 854 votes, giving him a majority of 371 over Tony Briggs of the "Local Conservatives", the banner under which hundreds of Conservative candidates stood across Britain in an attempt to distance themselves from Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The Council Leader said he was "delighted" after being re-elected.

The Green Party's Eve Allsop received 100 votes in Shard End and the Liberal Democrats' Christopher Barber 80, with nine ballot papers rejected.

The 1,414 votes cast in Shard End represented a 16.77 per cent turnout.

Elections for all 101 City Council seats were held across 69 wards in Birmingham, which is the most populated local council area in Britain.

Labour lost two seats across Birmingham compared to the 2018 election, but its total of 65 ensured it retained overall control of the City Council less than three months prior to the scheduled beginning of the Commonwealth Games.

The Conservatives form the main opposition with 25 seats, down three from 2018, with the Liberal Democrats holding eight - up four from 2018 - and the Green Party adding a seat to take its total up to two.

"We came into the campaign with 65 seats and come out of it with 65 seats," Ward was quoted as saying by the BBC.

"The 2018 [election] was a high mark, so to repeat that is a great election result for Birmingham Labour.

"The Tories [Conservatives] lost five seats to us, and in turn we lost four seats to the Lib Dems and one to the Greens."

The GMB Union, which represents 7,000 staff at Birmingham City Council, has threatened to take strike action during Birmingham 2022 over delays to resolving equal pay claims.

The Commonwealth Games are scheduled for July 28 to August 8, with Birmingham set to become the third English city after London and Manchester to host the multi-sport event.

Dave Wagg, head of sport and physical activity at Birmingham City Council, last month revealed to insidethegames that Birmingham is considering a bid for the 2026 European Championships as part of its legacy planning.