A LIBERAL Democrat councillor is to quit the party which he claims has failed to support him during his turbulent time in office.

Stoke-on-Trent City Councillor Dave Sutton controversially won his Northwood and Birches Head seat for the party by a single vote in 2008.

The result sparked a 21-month high court battle to prove that the result was valid and the council had complied with electoral legislation.

He was also disciplined by the council's standards committee in March for breaching the members' code of conduct during a dispute with members of a residents' association.

But it has now emerged that he has tried to rejoin the Labour Party, which expelled him in 2006.

The 60-year-old was initially suspended, along with his brother Paul, for criticising the Labour-led council's budget, and subsequently kicked out.

Mr Sutton said his recent bid to rejoin the party, which he has been involved with since the mid-1970s, was turned down by the city's central constituency party because he had not waited five years since his expulsion.

He has now abandoned the move, but said he intends to quit the Lib Dems when his membership expires in December.

Mr Sutton said: "I needed more support, which I don't feel I have had from the Lib Dems since I was elected.

"It has been absolute hell for the last two years, ever since the day of the election.

"I feel I fought the election and I have just kept on fighting ever since.

"It wasn't just the court case, there were a lot of other things happening in my ward that I had to deal with.

"I never actually asked to be a Lib Dem councillor; I've always been brought up as a Labour supporter.

"I was approached by former Lib Dem group leader Jean Bowers after I was expelled from Labour, and I agreed to join, but I have not renewed my membership this year.

"I won't be standing as a Lib Dem candidate in next year's all-out elections and I won't be standing in Northwood."

Mr Sutton plans to target the new Goldenhill and Sandyford ward, an area where he previously served as a Labour councillor, but will not be representing any political party.

He has ruled out a move to the new Community Voice group.

Councillor Zulfiqar Ali, deputy leader of the four-member Lib Dem group, said: "He hasn't told us that he is unhappy in the Lib Dems and I haven't had any indication he wishes to leave the group.

"We were quite happy with his contribution as a councillor since his election.

"I'm sorry if he feels we haven't supported him, but there was little the party could do to help during the court case, as it was in the hands of the council and its lawyers."

He added: "I can only apologise to him if he didn't feel supported, but as a party and a group we couldn't do any more than we did."

No-one from the city's central constituency Labour Party was available to comment on the group's decision to reject Mr Sutton's application.