VETERAN Cradley South and Hayley Green councillor Ken Turner has been named leader of UKIP party in Dudley Council.

Cllr Turner, who switched to UKIP from the Conservatives last year, will head the nine strong group in the council house and announced they will all snub next week's free meal after the Mayor making ceremony.

He said: "It is going to be different and a challenge, the electorate has shown its disapproval of the present political system and are looking for councillors to be proactive on their behalf.

"We will all be refusing the free meal provided by Dudley Council after the mayor making as we think accepting it in these difficult times will send the wrong message.

"We will also be refusing all council IT equipment to save taxpayers money, there is no reason we cannot use our own laptops."

And Cllr Turner is also pushing for the number of councillors sitting on the council to be reduced.

He said: "I have just submitted a motion to the council for July 14 to reduce the number of councillors to two a ward instead of three, something I have been pushing for for the last ten years.

"This will save money and make the council more efficient and will bring us into line with other councils like Stratford and Stafford which have already decided to reduce the number of councillors to 48."

He added: "The Conservatives including the reduction of councillors in their manifesto so they should vote with the motion.

"I urge everyone to log on and watch the debate online during the Dudley Council council meeting on Monday, July 14."

Cllr Turner has also been selected by UKIP to fight for the Walsall South constituency in the General Election next year.

He said: "I am looking forward to the campaign, the seat is high on UKIP's target list and I hope to be one of the party's first ever MPs."