Last election battle for Wolverhampton Tory leader Neville Patten

The opposition Conservative leader of Wolverhampton City Council has decided not to fight for his seat when it comes up for re-election in May.

At the age of 73, and having served the best part of 27 years as a councillor, he is calling it a day. But not without a few parting words and shots for the controlling Labour party. He is convinced that threats to close the likes of Central Baths and Bantock House due to government funding cuts are all a 'political football', with Labour likely to find a way to save them and harvest the praise of the voting public.

He has represented Oxley Park and Bushbury North in his time, punctuated by two periods of losing his seat. A former apprentice at Guy Motors, he would go on to run a pub, then a newsagent and then drive buses for a living – all working class roles. But he certainly does not think himself at odds with the millionaires and privately educated types among the Conservative front bench in Westminster.

"You'd be surprised how many down to earth, working class people are Conservatives," he says. "There must be a fair few in this city otherwise we wouldn't get elected to run the council every now and again."

Councillor Patten started off with the Tories at a young age. He remembers pushing leaflets through doors for Enoch Powell as a boy. But it was while working at Guy Motors that he made up his mind who to vote for. He said: "I asked a colleague what he thought someone should do as a first-time voter. He said you need to think of your party as the company you want to work for. Do you want one that promises you better money now, or do you want one that will give you better conditions with more to come in the future? Labour promises everything and gives you nothing. They're playing with people like a political football. They'll upset people by saying places could close and then find the money and everyone will say how wonderful they are."

While Neville Patten is standing down, his wife Pat intends to put herself forward for another term representing Penn.

Father-of-four and grandfather-of-seven Councillor Patten believes the 1990 council elections, set against the backdrop of the hated poll tax, were his toughest, even though he held on to his seat.

In 2008, Councillor Patten had just been chosen to lead his group when a huge swing of support moved from Labour to the Tories. Labour lost its majority but the Tories did not have enough seats to control the council alone. They partnered with the Liberal Democrats two years before the same thing would happen in Westminster. His time in charge of the council was arguably a micro version of what happened in the rest of the country. He says the finances were in a bad way, with a £5 million blackhole, and cuts were drawn up to tackle it. His coalition delivered a council tax freeze a year before George Osborne made it standard practice across the country. Reserves were built up to £44m.

And the city coalition came under heavy fire for the closure of care home Underhill House, which resulted in the city's oldest woman, Louisa Watts who was 106 at the time, being moved out on a freezing cold day. Even advertising tycoon Trevor Beattie got involved by funding a poster campaign naming Councillor Patten and other Tories and Lib Dems whose seats were up for re-election in 2010, urging people to vote for someone else. All of them retained their seats, however.

Neville Patten is now preparing to lead his 11 fellow Tory councillors into one last election fight, after which he will stand down from the group.

He added: "People are a lot more aware of politics and wary of politicians these days. But that's a good thing. They know they have the power in their hands. They expect more than just a promise."