THE former mayor of Bridgwater Cllr Diogo Rodrigues has posted a video online detailing the reasoning behind his shock move to join the Conservative Party this week.

In his address, Cllr Rodrigues explains why he has changed his thinking towards the Conservatives, states why he will not call a by-election and accuses Labour party of 'shutting him out' of the town council after he went independent.

He posted the video on his Facebook page and Left A Mark blog.

He says: "Nine months ago I left the Labour Party, I quit my membership of the Labour Party, because I no longer agreed with the Labour Party.

I became an Independent councillor, and the last nine months has been a period of reflection for me. A period for me to learn a bit more about myself, learn more about different politics and different ways of thinking.

"And really I came to the conclusion I am perhaps more aligned with the Conservative Party now."

Cllr Rodrigues goes on to say that he could 'never go back' to Labour because of the way he was treated by 'certain individuals in that party' and having been 'accused of running away with public money by one of the Labour councillors'.

"What I experienced over the last eight months or so was a complete shutdown of communication between Labour councillors and myself," Cllr Rodrigues said.

"I would walk into town council meetings and I would be ignored by almost every single by almost every single Labour councillor in there, and feel like I wasn't part of the council, not part of the team.

"I would be ignored, and not kept up to date with information which I found really frustrating."

Cllr Rodrigues cites the unanimous cross-party backing of the Sedgemoor District Council Conservatives budget as one of the reasons he felt confident in joining the group, and said that while he had been critical of MP Ian Liddell-Grainger in the past, he hoped to be able to put the concerns of his constituents more directly now.

Cllr Rodrigues went on to highlight that he felt many of the things ordinary people had been asking for, such as more policing, investment in buses and infrastructure, and the NHS, were being delivered by the Conservative government.

"In my opinion the Conservative Party, in that sense, has shifted toward ticking the boxes that I wanted ticked, and I think many people in Bridgwater and around wanted those boxes ticked," Cllr Rodrigues said.

"I genuinely think that being part of the Conservative Group on Sedgemoor District Council, working part of a great team of Conservative councillors, we will be able to achieve some great things for Bridgwater and Sedgemoor.

"I am not doing this for myself, I never have done it for myself, I done it to try and achieve the best thing for Bridgwater - that's why I'm in politics."

Cllr Rodrigues concludes the message by saying why he did not think it was the right move to call a by-election, despite the fact he had originally been voted in standing as a member of the Labour Party.

"I've seen the response of the Labour Party leader today, calling for me to call a by-election and to resign - as I expected he would.

"But what I would say to that is nine months ago I left the Labour Party.

"If a by-election was to be called, it should have been done then.

"It costs money to the community and you chose not to do it then."