Four Spelthorne Borough Councillors defect to UKIP

Four councillors publicly defected to UKIP at a meeting of Spelthorne Borough Council on Thursday.

Conservative councillors Denise Saliagopoulos and Joanne Sexton and independent councillors Quentin Edginton and Penny Forbes-Forsyth used Thursday's council meeting to make their announcements and laid the blame squarely at the feet of the Conservatives.

We cannot tolerate the way in which Spelthorne Borough Council is now being governed by the Conservatives, which we consider to be undemocratic, lacking in transparency and against the interests of our residents.

Back in 2014 a Spelthorne Conservative councillor was convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend and a few months later the Conservative leader of Spelthorne Borough Council hit the deadlines for laughing during a speech by the father of a 7 year old boy killed in floods. Then in 2015 the Conservative administration voted to allow a Conservative councillor living in India to keep his seat even though he should have been barred for not attending meetings for 6 months. It's a wonder that only two of their councillors have defected!

The Spelthorne UKIP group will now replace the Lib Dems as the official opposition on Spelthorne Borough Council.