Councillor blames Lib Dems for switch to Tories

A Wiltshire councillor said he had joined the Conservatives because he did not want voters to assume he was "actively supporting the atrocious LibDem cabinet".

Russell Hawker, a former Tory, was elected as an independent for Warminster West in May, but said his independent colleagues were propping up the Liberal Democrat administration.

Hawker criticised the cabinet's decision to close two recycling centres in the county, and its handling of a failed attempt to dispose of a multi-storey car park.

Council leader Ian Thorn said the Liberal Democrats had been forced to take "quite challenging and unpopular" decisions in order to balance the books.

Hawker represented the Conservatives on West Wiltshire District Council and Westbury Town Council, to which he was elected in 2003, but quit the party to sit as an independent in 2005.

His move puts greater pressure on a cabinet already struggling to get important motions through full council due to its slim majority.

The Liberal Democrats now have 43 councillors, the Conservatives 38, Reform UK 10, and Labour one. The Independent group is reduced from seven to six, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Last month, the Liberal Democrats bid to pay the owner of Trowbridge's Castle Place Shopping Centre £2.5m to take on the adjoining car park and redevelop the site failed by just one vote.

In a statement, Hawker branded the cabinet's handling of the deal "diabolical", and said it had ongoing issues "with transparency and accountability".

"I have concluded that now is the time to do something about it. Frankly, enough is enough," he said.

Council leader Thorn remarked: "It's extraordinarily unusual these days for anybody to join the Conservative Party. Most people seem to be leaving it at the present time."

Responding to Hawker's comments, he said: "When you are running a very large local council that has to balance the books you have to take on often quite challenging and unpopular areas in order to make sure we can continue to function."

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