DUDLEY’S Conservative group has been dealt a blow after two borough councillors defected to Labour claiming Tories are out of touch.

Councillors Glenis Simms and Cheryl Billingham have quit the party and left the opposition benches to team up with the ruling group.

The pair were welcomed into the party by Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport Mary Creagh MP, who met them in Coronation Gardens outside Dudley Council House during a visit to the town.

Councillor Glenis Simms (Wordsley) said: “David Cameron’s Conservative Party is out of touch with the concerns of ordinary people in Dudley.

“People are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet under this Government. Labour seems to be the only party to have a plan to help people with the cost of living.

“The Conservative Party seems to stand up for an elite rather than for the vast majority of people.

“As an ordinary working mother, I no longer feel at home in David Cameron’s Conservative Party.

“Labour is the only party who will make working people in Dudley better off.”

Councillor Billingham (Kingswinford North and Wall Heath) added: “I am proud to be joining the Labour Party.

“The Conservative Party is out of touch and no longer stands up for ordinary hard working people in Dudley.

“When I first became a councillor, all I wanted to do was stand up for my local community. Under today’s Leadership I have found that impossible.

“Labour are in touch with the concerns of people in Dudley and how they are struggling under this Government.”

Labour’s deputy leader of Dudley Council, Cllr Pete Lowe, said: “I am really pleased to welcome two great community councillors into our Labour family in Dudley.

“It shows the utter turmoil that the Dudley Conservatives are in when they aren’t even trusted by their own leading councillors.”