Sakina Bradbury, a councillor in Surrey, has become the third Liberal Democrat to defect to the Conservative Party in the last four months. Sakina has been a Liberal Democrat councillor for Whyteleafe ward on nearby Tandridge District Council since 2002. She decided to join the Conservatives after becoming “increasingly impressed” by the way the Conservative administration of Tandridge District Council met the needs of local residents.

I’ve been taking a team of Conservatives around Cheam over the last few weeks where we have knocked on a few thousand doors. There haven’t been too many people that are “increasingly impressed” with the LibDem Council in Sutton. This wasn’t always the case. I first moved to Sutton in 1986, the year that the LibDems took over (22 years, I know…) They had some eyecatching schemes then. Some, such as the skip service worked and were popular. Others such as the £500m gas powered dustcarts didn’t and were swept under the carpet. Now, as they rest on their laurels , living off past glories as a tired administration, we see year-on-year inflation busting increases without any innovation in service provision. It is not surprising that people who were promised a vision, look elsewhere. Sakina has joined many people including Sutton residents in seeing that the Conservatives are breathing new life into local politics and I wish her well.