ST HELENS Council leader Barrie Grunewald has come out of a coma in hospital in the Canary Islands.

As the Star reported last week, Cllr Grunewald, 37, was taken ill at a hotel in Gran Canaria, where he was enjoying a break with friends.

He was placed in an induced coma but St Helens Council confirmed the situation had improved in the past week, although he remains in hospital.

A Labour spokesman added that Councillor Grunewald “is on the path to recovery.”

St Helens Council chief executive Mike Palin is receiving regular updates on the leader’s condition and Cllr Andy Bowden, the deputy leader, will take on temporary responsibility for key decision making at the town hall while Cllr Grunewald is ill.

Cllr Grunewald, a father of two, recently lost his mother to illness.

He was elected St Helens Council leader in 2013 after entering St Helens politics as an aide to the former MP Shaun Woodward.

He is well known across the Labour party and has been playing a key role in the campaign by Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram to become the city region’s elected mayor.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, was among those to send Cllr Grunewald a message of support.