Tories lose majority on BCP Council after members Steve Baron, Mohan Iyengar, Daniel Butt and Judy Butt quit to serve as Independents

THE Conservatives have lost overall control of BCP Council following the resignation of four members.

Poole councillors Steve Baron, Mohan Iyengar, Daniel Butt and Judy Butt quit the party after they failed to be selected as Tory candidates for next year's local elections.

They will now be Independents, effectively meaning the Tory majority on the council has been lost.

There are a total 76 councillors on BCP Council, with 41 of these being Conservatives before the resignations.

This switch by four of its members will take its numbers down to 37, meaning they no longer make up the majority.

BCP Council leader Cllr Drew Mellor said: "These resignations are due to disagreements with one of the local party associations. No indication has been given by any of those councillors that they would support a change in council control and we commit to working closely with them, and any others who wish to work with us to better their communities, in the future.”

A spokesperson from BCP Council said: “We have received formal notification from the four councillors that they have resigned from the Conservative group on BCP Council. We are now working through what this means for the council.”

Poole Conservative Association said it would not comment on "internal party matters", but thanked the councillors for their "contribution to date".