The balance of power at Cheshire West and Chester Council may have shifted slightly more Labour’s way after a prominent Tory councillor decided to continue as an independent member of the authority.

Former Chester City and Cheshire County councillor Eveleigh Moore-Dutton, who represents Tarporley ward on Cheshire West and Chester Council, says she has resigned the Tory whip.

At the most recent elections in 2015, Cllr Moore-Dutton won the seat with 1,938 votes, 67.36% of those cast, against Lib Dem and Labour candidates. The turnout was 75%.

On the borough council she sits on the appeals and audit and governance committees apart from the full council and is a member of the district advisory panel - rural srea and the standards complaints panel.

Cllr Moore-Dutton was a Conservative Party campaigner from 1997 to 2010 and from 2009 to summer 2012 was a part time regional press officer for an MEP and the European Parliament.

At Cheshire County Council, which was abolished in 2009, she was executive member for ICT and communication and then for highways and transport. She was first elected to Cheshire West and Chester in 2011.

She has also been a candidate for the British and European parliaments.

Cllr Eveleigh Moore-Dutton during her time as deputy group leader

Cllr Moore-Dutton became deputy leader of the Conservative group in 2014 amid a furore which saw her being the only candidate.

“It’s a responsible role and I’m looking forward to doing it to the best of my ability,” she said.

Also executive member for resources, she was succeeded by Cllr Margaret Parker in 2016.

The daughter of a farmer and a trained nurse Cllr Moore-Dutton is the mother of three adult children two of whom have served in the Armed Forces.

Her hobbies and interests are said to be support for Armed Forces charities because of strong Forces connections, as a small holder and a registered bee keeper.

She has an interest in Whitchurch based Trevanion and Dean Fine Arts Auctioneers and in property at Sandhole Farm, Chester Road, Tushingham near Malpas.

As a Cheshire politician she claims to have ‘the combination of real life experience, proven ability and local knowledge’.

Cllr Moore-Dutton has lived all her adult life in Cheshire but has had an international education, has worked in finance and for 25 years was a director of a small, Cheshire based, civil engineering business.

While working and raising her family she studied law and politics through the Open University and has also studied constitutional and criminal law.

She is a governor of Tarporley CoE Primary School and a member of the National Farmers Union, Cheshire Wildlife Trust and the Royal Horticultural Society.

With the next borough council elections due in May 2019, Cllr Moore-Dutton’s move from the party does not affect Labour’s slender overall one seat majority on the council. But with every vote counting it will be an unwelcome move with the Tory whips.

Leader Cllr Samantha Dixon’s group with 38 seats remains ahead of the Conservatives, although now reduced to 35 while Cllr Moore-Dutton’s decision increases the number of independents from one to two.

She will join Parkgate ward councillor Martin Barker on the independent bench.

Cllr Moore-Dutton and Tory Party leaders Cllr Lynn Riley and Cllr Margaret Parker have been approached for comment on the situation.