Senior local government Lib Dem defects to Labour

The vice-chairman of Cambridge Liberal Democrats has defected to Labour over the government’s “horrendous” policies. Clare Blair, who until recently was a executive member on the city council, told Cambridge Evening News:

“I’ve tried very hard since the national elections in 2010 and the local elections in 2011, when I think the Liberal Democrats were sent a very clear message nationally about what people felt about their position, to reconcile my unhappiness with what was happening locally.

“The reality is you can’t separate them and all you can do at a local level is to mitigate the impact of what the Government is doing or to excuse the policies which are doing the damage.

“We are having to continually excuse national policies and I have seen far to little of the council standing up for Cambridge against policies I truly believe are horrendous.”