THE fight is on for Dudley North – with The Conservatives and UKIP now both having confirmed their candidates.

Councillor Les Jones has been officially selected to stand for the Tories for a second battle against Labour’s Ian Austin after their clash in 2015 where cllr Jones, former leader of Dudley Council, polled 11,704 votes to Mr Austin’s 15,885.

Meanwhile - West Midlands UKIP MEP and councillor Bill Etheridge, who came third in 2015 with 9,113 votes, has been confirmed as the purple party’s candidate who will be going all out to try and snatch the seat for himself.

For Cllr Jones, a long-serving councillor for Pedmore and Stourbridge East and a former computer engineer who was drafted in at the 11th hour in the 2015 General Election after Tory candidate Afzal Amin quit amid allegations he had been in cahoots with the English Defence League, it is the first time he’s been tipped by pollsters to win a seat.

He previously stood in the 2001 and 2005 General Elections as the Tory candidate for Halesowen and Rowley Regis – and he was also the Conservative candidate for the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner's job in 2016 and 2014.

He said: “I’ve actually got a good chance of winning this election; it’s the first time anyone’s ever had me down to win!”

Dudley’s Ian Austin, however, will be giving his all to hang on to the seat he has held since the Blair/Brown days.

He drafted in Labour deputy leader Tom Watson to help launch his campaign last week and he says he’ll be fighting to continue his vision to bring more jobs and investment to Dudley.

Cllr Etheridge for UKIP, meanwhile, says he’s “delighted to be standing again for my home area” again and he added: “I'll be standing for all of the people of our area as a strong passionate voice for the Black Country.”