The Conservative Party's By-election campaign in Ealing Southall received a massive boost today following the news that four Labour Councillors have defected to the Conservatives to back Tony Lit's campaign. The defecting Labour Councillors were named as Cllr Gurcharan Singh, Cllr Manjit Singh, Cllr Jarnail Singh Jandu and Cllr Jagdish Gupta. In some some cases they have been members of the Labour Party for up to 42 years. They all represent either the Southall Broadway or Lady Margaret wards. An independent candidate in the by-election, Dr Gulbash Singh, has also now joined Tony Lit's campaign and pledged his support to the Conservatives.

Speaking during a visit to Ealing Town Hall today, David Cameron said: "I'm delighted to announce that five Labour Councillors in Ealing & Southall have come over and joined the Conservative Party and are giving support to our candidate, Tony Lit, who I think everyone now accepts would be the best Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall.

"I think it is a really important moment for Ealing Southall, but also an important moment in British Politics. This is the clearest possible indication that the Conservative Party having been changed and modernised is now a voice for everybody.

"We have broadened our appeal and many more people now feel that they can make their home in the modern Conservative Party. I think particularly for British Asians who share our values and strong belief in family, enterprise and work, the Conservative Party is their natural home.

"I am delighted that such talented councillors have come to the party because they believe that only the Conservative Party can bring the change the country needs."

Joint statement from five Southall Labour Councillors defecting to the Conservatives: "It has become increasingly obvious as this by-election campaign has progressed, that the Conservative candidate Tony Lit is the best person to represent Ealing Southall as our next MP. He's energetic, dynamic and displays the kind of qualities that would make him ideally suited to represent the people of Ealing Southall. We wanted to provide him with our backing and joining the Conservative Party sends the clearest possible message.

"Locally since Conservatives took control of Ealing Council in May 2006 we have noticed that they have been making great strides towards trying to improve the quality of life for all our residents. We've finally reached the stage where it has become blatantly obvious that we would be doing our own voters a great disservice if we continue to dogmatically stick with a disorganised and divided Labour Party. Our goal is to see genuine improvements for our residents. We believe that the Conservative Party now provides our community with greater opportunities and is genuinely interested in improving services for all.

"At a national level we are extremely impressed by David Cameron's modern Conservatives and, with the changes that he has now made, we feel that the Conservative Party now best represents our views. In a sense we believe the Conservatives have become our natural home and we are very excited about the opportunity to play a full part in a Party which we believe is destined to form the next government."