TORIES held onto the Dudley South seat as Mike Wood was elected as the constituency’s new MP replacing the outgoing Chris Kelly.

The MP was able to retain the Conservative seat after polling 16,723 votes to give him a 4,270 majority.

Labour’s Natasha Millward was Mr Wood’s nearest competitor after gaining 12,453 votes.

Mr Wood, who stood as the Tory representative in this year’s election following former MP Chris Kelly’s decision to only serve one term, said: “I am absolutely delighted.

“I am completely shocked, but I’m really looking forward to working hard for local people and starting straight away.

“It’s my daughter’s birthday on Sunday and I will be taking her and 20 other children to Dudley Zoo for the day. If that doesn’t prepare me for Westminster, I don’t know what will.”

Elsewhere in the constituency, UKIP candidate Paul Brothwood received 7,236 votes ahead of The Green Party’s Vicky Duckworth - who polled 970 votes - and Lib Dem Martin Turner who gained 828 votes.

The turnout figure for Dudley South this year was 63.4 per cent, with a total number of 38,292 votes cast.

Those figures were remarkably similar to those of the 2010 election which saw a 63.2 per cent turnout and 38,300 votes cast – a difference of just eight votes.