MEET the man set to become Southampton’s next city council leader.

The Daily Echo can today reveal that Simon Letts is likely to become the authority’s third leader in the space of three weeks.

Current leader Jacqui Rayment was elected on April 25 after the resignation of previous chief Richard Williams.

But the former deputy leader says she is standing aside, and with no other challengers the man currently in charge of the city’s finances is likely to be elected leader at a meeting of Southampton’s Labour councillors tomorrow.

Party members will take part in a secret vote to elect the next leader of the party – and therefore, due to the majority Labour holds over the opposition, the council.

If his Labour colleagues elect him as leader, Cllr Letts will announce his new Cabinet at another party meeting on Monday and be formally invested as city council leader at an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday.

Ivan White will be named new city mayor, and Susan Blatchford sheriff at that meeting.

It comes after Mr Williams stepped down as council leader at an extraordinary general meeting of the council last month.

The meeting had been called to discuss a report into his conduct after he misled the public about former cabinet colleague Keith Morrell’s resignation to avoid political embarrassment.

An independent report found Mr Williams had been “economical with the truth” in ordering a press release be sent out saying Cllr Morrell had resigned as efficiency tsar due to “ill health”.

The report also admonished Cllr Rayment, who checked the press release, and Cllr Morrell.

But 63 pages had been removed from the original, confidential draft report put together by investigator Richard Lingard and given to council monitoring officer Mark Heath on March 2.

Those pages, revealed by the Daily Echo just hours before Mr Williams’ resignation, contained allegations that the former leader had pleaded with Cllr Morrell to stay in the cabinet saying: “You don’t have to do anything – just draw the money”, while Cllr Rayment said he lacked “clear leadership” in dealing with the crisis.

Mr Williams subsequently resigned, and Cllr Rayment was voted in as the new leader.