A member of Carterton Town Council who resigned has switched from the Conservatives to Lib Dems.

Elaine Hatton, who became a town councillor in 2018 and was re-elected in 2019, quit because she was “not achieving what I want to achieve”.

She explained on her Facebook page: “My most enjoyable and memorable time was spent with the local schools. The activities I was heavily involved with ranged from making poppies, Christmas lanterns, Easter kits and fundraising.”

She said: “My life philosophy for being a town councillor was working for the community. My attitude is to give back to people what they give to us.”

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Ms Hatton said she would remain a trustee and fundraiser for The Carterton Educational Trust and trustee for the Carterton Community Centre.

If selected she will now stand as a Liberal Democrat in West Oxfordshire District Council elections next year.

Of leaving the Conservatives, she said: “I found that my priorities were not the same as theirs, therefore I resigned. I needed to be within a party who had the same convictions as myself - people first, politics second, that’s why I joined the Liberal Democrats.

“Ultimately my aim within the community is to make provisions for families both financially, educationally and socially - embedding local children within the community.”

Councillor Andy Graham, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on WODC, said it was “the beginning of the end of the blue wall” in West Oxfordshire and he was “delighted” with Ms Hatton’s decision.

And he added: “I am hearing from other Conservatives who have told me how fed up they are with them taking them for granted and they won’t be voting for them.

“Others are on the brink of joining the Liberal Democrats who put the community first. They are angry about planning and the environment and the complete lack of infrastructure.”