After her controversial resignation, outgoing Surrey County Councillor Stella Lallement has levelled a series of stinging attacks on the Epsom and Ewell Liberal Democrats.

Initially claiming her decision was down to differences with her local party, Mrs Lallement has since accused them of discriminating against her based on nationality.

From Monday: County councillor dramatically quits over inability to 'fit in with Epsom and Ewell Lib Dems'

Brazilian-born Mrs Lallement, who has lived in the UK since 2009, said: "I felt they discriminated against me because I was inexperienced in local politics, but the phrase they also used was that I had a ‘lack of experience in the UK’.

"What are they implying there? Does it mean I couldn’t be a good councillor? Does it mean my views aren’t valid? How do they think I became a councillor?"

Mrs Lallement was elected in the Epsom West ward in May 2013, but her confessed ‘disillusionment’ with the role, as well as difficulties in her personal life, saw her council attendance fall sharply this year.

Juggling a full-time job, and caring duties for her seven-year-old daughter and elderly mother, Mrs Lallement attended just one council meeting in 2015.

She also said she felt ‘shackled’ by the Liberal Democrat party machine, citing a culture of ‘blame and complain’ as a party of opposition, rather than one of co-operation with the majority Conservative party.

County Councillor Eber Kington, of the Residents’ Association, echoed this, saying: "I think this whole thing illustrates how being a member of a political party demands conformity.

"It doesn’t allow for independent thinking. To an extent it doesn’t happen in the Conservative party because they toe the line more, but I can see how an independent thinker like Stella could fall out with her local party.

"I have to say I enjoyed working with her on the county council and there was never a time when we had a disagreement."

Mrs Lallement’s claims were rejected by former Lib Dem Epsom and Ewell Borough councillor, Julie Morris, who said the outgoing county councillor was ‘given every support’.

Mrs Morris said: "We’re a practical party when it comes to local issues - there is no diktat from Lib Dem headquarters as to how we do things.

"And as for the accusations of discrimination - that’s just rubbish. It’s fundamentally wrong and nothing could be further from the truth.

"To be honest I don’t think Stella is the type of person who was ever comfortable operating within a team, which is what you have to do in politics. Even within the Residents’ Association."

Mrs Lallement said she enjoyed working with colleagues of all parties at SCC, and fellow Lib Dem county councillor Ian Beardsmore described her as ‘very assiduous and hard-working’.

A date for the upcoming Epsom West by-election has yet to be set.