I'll give £10k council pay to charity says newly-elected Dudley South MP

Mike Wood, who held Dudley South for the Conservatives at the General Election, is also a councillor representing Pedmore and Stourbridge East.

But the 39-year-old said he would not be standing down as a councillor straight away as he wants to try to avoid a costly by-election taking place in the summer, when turnout is typically very low.

Instead the father of two is going to attempt to stay on as a councillor until the local elections next May but will be donating his £9,600 a year council allowances to worthy causes. He has left himself the option of standing down earlier if he is not able to get to as many council meetings as he hopes to.

Mr Wood, who took over from Conservative Chris Kelly at the election, said: "I intend to continue as a Dudley councillor until next May but, from next month, I shall be dividing my Council allowances between local charities.

"Because the Government's majority is so narrow, I probably won't be able to get to as many council meeting as I might have wished and so it may be that I do need to stand down earlier.

"I will speak to the leader of the council and to other members of the council, but if they are happy to go without a by-election in Pedmore – and assuming there is no groundswell of public demand – then I will continue until next May's local elections."

Mr Wood's term of office as a councillor is not up for re-election until 2018. Whichever councillor wins the seat next May will serve the remainder of his term. The by-election would take place alongside the scheduled election in 2016, when the Tories will defend the seat currently held by Councillor Les Jones.

Mr Wood could be seen on the green benches in the House of Commons this week as MPs were being sworn in.

He also featured in a big group shot of the new intake of Tory MPs alongside the Prime Minister.

Other newly elected West Midlands Conservatives included Amanda Milling, who held the key marginal of Cannock Chase in place of Aidan Burley, and Wendy Morton, who held the safe seat of Aldridge Brownhills following the retirement of Sir Richard Shepherd.

Labour managed to win back Wolverhampton South West with Rob Marris returning to Parliament in place of Tory Paul Uppal - the MP who had defeated him back in 2010.

Mr Wood said: "It's been incredibly exciting. The Conservatives have won a majority and we get to implement our manifesto.

"I have a particular interest in special needs education. I want to make sure that families and children with special educational needs have a voice in Parliament."

By-elections in summer are typically poorly attended.

Last year barely one in 10 people voted in the by-election for the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, called following the death of Bob Jones.

Only 205,456 out of 1,993,998 put a cross on their ballot papers. However the original election for the post in November 2012 fared little better, with a turnout just over 12 per cent.