Walsall mayor in bid to become MP

He wants to campaign for a seat with the new party the Trade Unions and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) that aims to put up 1,000 candidates from across the country for House of Commons places.

Councillor Smith currently represents the borough's Blakenall ward, but has spoken out against the council's budget plans to axe more than 200 jobs and trim services in a bid to save £29 million.

"There has got to be someone in Walsall to argue against austerity. As far as I can see all the main parties are planning to continue with these cutbacks. There is an alternative route and it's important to put the situation into context.

"We need a Government that recognises that large sums of money can be found from businesses, by making companies involved in tax avoidance practises pay their proper share of taxes. We need to make sure that Great Britain and not businesses benefit the most from tax laws.

"In addition, we should not be spending so much on nuclear weapons and Trident," Councillor Smith said.

"TUSC is hoping to field 1,000 candidates in the general election and possible another 1,000 in the local elections. It will be urging organisations across the country to follow an anti-austerity platform in the run up to the May elections."

The councillor is the town hall's sole representative for Democratic Labour, and he is due to hold talks over the move with party colleagues this week.

He said he was disappointed that the authority's new ruling Labour group was continuing the cost-cutting measures that had been started by the previous Tory administration. And that council leader Sean Coughlan should have left it for officers from Whitehall to do.

But Councillor Coughlan said the borough would be worse off if 'faceless' bureaucrats based in London, who did not know the community, came into run its finances.

Councillor Smith will complete his term as civic mayor in May.

He was first elected to the council in 1983 with the Labour Party serving three terms, returning under the Democratic Labour banner in 2007.

He backed a successful residents' protest that prevented hundreds of new homes being built on green space off Goscote Lane.

It is not yet clear whether he will bid to become an MP for Walsall north or south.