Tory councillor defects over school cuts

A Tory councillor has defected to Labour over the Government's scrapping of a £55 billion school building project.

Elaine Costigan, of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in the West Midlands, said she "felt ashamed to be a Conservative".

She said the local community had been treated with "utter contempt" by the Coalition government, leading her to join the Labour party - which she described as "the only party fighting for ordinary hardworking people".

Ms Costigan, who was deputy leader of the Conservative group at the council, quit after nine schools in Sandwell lost out when the Government cancelled the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme in July.

Under the original scheme, set up by Labour in 2004, all 3,500 secondary schools in England were to be rebuilt or refurbished by 2023. While all projects past the financial close stage were allowed to continue, schools earlier in the process had their schemes axed.

Ms Costigan said Education Secretary Michael Gove had "backed out" of a pledge to personally apologise to families in Sandwell.

Shadow children and education secretary Ed Balls said he had spoken to Ms Costigan and was "delighted" with her decision.