THERE were calls yesterday (Monday) for a by-election in Bridgwater, after a county councillor defected to the LibDems just four months after being elected as a Tory.

Cllr Stephen Gill won the Bridgwater South division in June as a Conservative, but on Friday he jumped ship and delivered a blistering parting shot at his former colleagues.

The Conservatives and Labour are now calling for Cllr Gill to resign, triggering a by-election.

Explaining his decision to the Mercury, Cllr Gill insisted he would not step down and denied suggestions he had short-changed those who voted for him as a Conservative.

He said: “When I was elected, I went on a vote for change - but this has been change for the worst.

“Everything the Conservatives seem to touch is falling apart.”

Cllr Gill also attacked what he claimed were possible cuts in county council funding for PCSOs, after Taunton's LibDem MP Jeremy Browne this week claimed £129,000 funding for the support officers would be cut in the council's next budget.

Ken Maddock, Conservative leader of Somerset County Council, told the Mercury: “Stephen promised to sort out the financial mess at County Hall and support the thousands of jobs associated with the Hinkley Point development.

“The LibDems are against those things.”

He then called for Cllr Gill to resign.

Labour also called for a by-election - claiming it would be a referendum on the closure of the Splash.

But Jill Shortland, the leader of the LibDem group on the county council, called Cllr Gill a 'man of principle' for joining her party.