Bill Etheridge, Conservative candidate for Sedgley ward at next year’s Dudley Council elections, said he would use all the council’s powers to make the village a place where the authorities would not wish to house any asylum seekers.

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Mr Etheridge said he would ‘fight to the death’ to stop any asylum seekers from living in the village.

“Vote for me and I guarantee they will not want to house anyone here,” he said.

In a campaign video, Mr Etheridge is pictured walking along Sedgley’s Northway saying: “People in areas like Sedgley, who have worked hard all their lives, resent seeing people come here illegally, getting benefits, getting housed in hotels, looked after.”

He says successive national governments had shown too much weakness, and failed stand up for Britain’s borders and its people.

“But I’m here to tell you, should I be elected to Dudley Council, for the ward of Sedgley, that no way will there be any asylum seekers or illegal immigrants housed in any form of accommodation here,” he said.

“I will fight to the death to stop this, you don’t need to listen to wild claims and accusations of extremists, you’ve got someone here with experience in politics whose got a long track record of opposing this kind of thing.”

Mr Etheridge served in the village as a Ukip councillor from 2014-2018, when he was defeated by Conservative Shaun Keasey.

The roles are now reversed, with Mr Etheridge, who is now standing as a Conservative, seeking to retake the seat from Mr Keasey who is now with Reform UK.

Mr Etheridge also served as MEP for the West Midlands from 2014-2019.

Last month, former Dudley Tory MP Marco Longhi – now with Reform – addressed a meeting of the council after handing in a 3,200-name petition expressing concerns about the use of hotel and hostel accommodation to house asylum seekers in the borough.

It is understood there are about 600 asylum seekers living in Dudley, 72 of who are housed in a single hotel in the borough.