A FORMER senior Liberal Democrat councillor has crossed the political divide and pledged his support for the Conservatives.

Fred Greenslade, former leader of Carrick District Council, was featured in promotional material from the Conservatives giving his backing to the party's Truro and Falmouth candidate Sarah Newton.

It comes just weeks after Mr Greenslade publicly criticised Cornwall's five Liberal Democrat MPs for supporting the switch to a unitary authority in Cornwall under the local government reorganisation.

Mr Greenslade made his comments after reports about the savings which had been made as a result of the change-over and said that the county's Lib Dem MPs should apologise.

He had been a Lib Dem councillor on Carrick District Council for a number of years and stood as the Lib Dem candidate in his home ward of Probus in last June's Cornwall Council elections. However Mr Greenslade came fourth in the election, picking up just 197 votes, 15% of the total.

Winner of the seat was Independent candidate Bob Egerton, himself a former member of the Liberal Democrat Party who resigned as he did not agree with the party's support of Newquay Airport.

In Sarah Newton's glossy campaign leaflet Mr Greenslade is quoted saying: "Many people I trust remember me as the Lib Dem leader of Carrick District Council and champion for local housing for local people, the key word being affordable.

"You can imagine our frustrations when we realised that Cornwall's five Lib Dem MPs were supporting the minister in pushing through a unitary council despite 80% of the public who voted (76,000) voting against it. What happened to democracy?

"I truly believe that in Sarah Newton we have a candidate who will listen and fight for the people of Cornwall."