A CONSERVATIVE councillor has left his group - and launched a blistering attack on his former colleagues on Trafford council

Councillor Barry Hepburn has defected to the Liberal Democrats and will contest the Hale Barns ward in the election in June.

The Conservatives are hoping to wrest control from the Labour group for the first time since the mid 1990s. Currently there is a Labour administration with the Liberal Democrats holding the balance of power.

But Cllr Hepburn claims the Conservatives are "not fit to govern" and says he was fed up of squabbling within the group.

Tory leader Councillor Susan Fildes, dismissed his attack - pointing out her group was launching policy details in its manifesto this week and blaming Councillor Hepburn for causing disunity.

Cllr Hepburn has had frequent clashes within the Conservative group. He distanced himself from it four years ago and has since sat as an independent Conservative.

He has represented the Hale ward for eight years and now, with boundary changes, it has been renamed the Hale Barns ward. Under the changes it takes in part of Village ward, a Liberal Democrat stronghold.

Cllr Hepburn, aged 67, who has represented Hale ward for eight years, said of the Conservative group: "They are not fit to govern - they have no policies and no initiatives.

"Frankly, I was tired of the squabbles and power struggles within the Conservative group. We had north versus south, and even east versus the rest.

"With all this dissent, there was never any hope of getting future policies agreed. Indeed, I never heard any policies developed at group meetings. They do not have any policies and seem devoid of any new initiatives."

Cllr Fildes said: "I am about to email the press with copies of our manifesto for Trafford - it is full of policies.

"A major part of the disunity to which he refers stemmed from his hostility to certain members of the Conservative group, and his almost obsessive attempt to become leader."

Labour's Councillor David Acton, who is leader of the council, said: "I think this shows the Conservatives are in disarray and chaos.

"They don't have any alternative - no policies and no direction and nothing to offer except squabbling among themselves."

Councillor Ray Bowker, Trafford's Liberal Democrat leader, said "I welcome Councillor Hepburn to our group. He has demonstrated over many years a commitment to community issues and environmental concerns which has always been a Liberal Democrat strength in Trafford."