FORMER Labour Party stalwart Les Sibley has defended his decision to help support the Conservative administration at Oxfordshire County Council.

Mr Sibley, a former mayor of Bicester, has represented the people of the town for two decades.

But he fell out with the Labour Party earlier this year and stood as an independent in the county council election on May 2, winning the Bicester West seat.

Mr Sibley said there was “no bitterness towards the Labour Party”.

He said the alliance between the Tories and three independent councillors would create a stable council and he would still “give the Tories grief”.

He added: “I haven’t joined the Tories. We are a number of independent councillors who have formed an alliance and I will be keeping my own independence.

“We we will be free to act on our own as independent councillors and vote on the merit of any issue as we see fit.

“People who voted for me like my stand on issues. That won’t change. I think people are interested in how best I can serve them at County Hall.

“My aspirations are to be the local voice for Bicester.

“Through the alliance I feel I can represent them even better than perhaps I could have done as an individual.

“I’m confident the people in Bicester West who voted for me won’t have any issues about this.”

Mr Sibley has campaigned for many years for a new £5m community hospital for Bicester and work is scheduled to start in June.

In May 2008, the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown invited Mr Sibley to a reception at 10 Downing Street with 100 other guests to discuss the political climate in the constituencies.

Labour Party officials in North Oxfordshire, however, condemned Mr Sibley’s decision to work with the Tories.

Anne Davis, from Adderbury, secretary of the villages branch of Banbury Constituency Labour Party, said: “I think it’s horrendous that someone should switch sides in this way – it’s typically opportunistic.

“I think Labour Party members in the area will be very cross but not surprised.”

Henry Goodman, chairman of Banbury Constituency Labour Party, added: “For many years Les Sibley has really stood for himself, not the Labour Party.

“He has always been interested in promoting himself and joining the Conservatives in this way is another example.”

But Bicester town mayor Dan Sames, a Conservative, said: “I can’t believe Les was not selected by the Labour Party after all the service he has given the town over the years.”

In April, it emerged that a row among the ranks of North Oxfordshire Labour Party led to Mr Sibley breaking away from the party.

A current town and Cherwell district councillor, Mr Sibley decided to stand independently under his name.

The decision paid off and he won the seat in the Bicester West division, polling 964 votes, with Labour’s Steve Sargeant coming fourth with 237 votes.