Experienced Councillors Hemant Rae Bhatia and Paul Westley will be standing for the Local Conservatives at the upcoming local elections in Leicester.
They will be joined in the Beaumont Leys ward by a strong local campaigner Hazel Orton who has led the fight to save green areas including Beaumont Park and raised a petition of over 2500 signatures, which the council chose to ignore.
Cllr Bhatia said “People of Leicester are being denied their voice and the city is being pulled in a direction that no one wants by a dictatorial City Mayor and his team who holds absolute power - a position that we must scrap.
The Labour Party in Leicester is broken, as a city we need change and that’s why I am joining the party which truly represents local people and is fighting for local issues (see the party’s manifesto) giving local people a genuine voice.
With Paul and Hazel, I will continue to work to serve the ward and get the local plan scrapped to save Beaumont Park and other green patches in the area.
After years of having the freedom to express our opinions taken away, I can say that I am proud of the decision that Cllr Westley and I have made. Now we can not only act freely and continue to serve our local people as their true representatives at the Council but also get things implemented by being part of this Local Conservative family.”
Cllr Westley has served on Leicester City Council continuously since 1995 but he could no longer serve inside of an anti-democratic Labour party that doesn’t listen to local people.
He said “I don’t feel my opinions have changed too much over the past 28 years but the Labour party that I was a part of back then is very different to the Labour Party of today.
The party I am joining will put local people first, it’s the local people’s party of Leicester and I will be proud to get my voice back and represent local people.
I have been mightily impressed with how the local Conservatives have campaigned against the City Mayor’s local plan which will damage areas across our city and no more so than in Beaumont Leys. It’s time that Leicester had a change and that must start by saving Beaumont Park and scrapping the City Mayoral position.
I look forward to working with a strong team that includes Cllr Bhatia and Hazel Orton.”
Local Conservative Councillors now represent 4 seats on the Council and will take the fight to Peter Soulsby’s divided Labour Party on 4th May.
The Chair of the Leicester Conservatives, Richard Tutt said “We have seen in recent weeks and months that the Labour Party continues to let Leicester down. Leicester needs change and it will be Local Conservatives who set about fixing our city.
I am really pleased to welcome Cllr Bhatia, Cllr Westley and Hazel to our party who will now have the freedom to stand up for local people’s views in Beaumont Leys and across Leicester.”
