A WOULD-be councillor has switched his allegiance from Liberal Democrat to Labour after becoming ‘fed-up’ with his former party.

Pervaz Afzal, who stood as a Lib Dem candidate in Brier-field last year, was expected to stand for the party again next month.

However, he has defected to Labour in the light of Government cuts.

He said: “Last week’s budget showed us quite clearly that growth is stalling and that tax and benefit changes will impact most on the poor and vulnerable.

“Here in Pendle, we’ve seen children robbed of school improvements in Colne and Barnoldswick, students’ educa-tion maintenance allow-ances slashed, college courses cut, Social Services offices closed, front-line police jobs going and VAT being put up.”

Mr Afzal will support Labour councillor Nawaz Ahmed in his campaign for re-election next month.