Three Sandwell Independent candidates announce coordinated General Election campaigns

The movement, which was inspired by Independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob in the West Midlands Mayoral Election, includes former Conservative and Labour councillors.

The Sandwell Independents announced they will be standing in West Bromwich, Smethwick and Tipton and Wednesbury.

Former Old Warley Conservative Councillor Jay Anandou is standing in Smethwick, former Labour Tipton Green Councillor Mohammed Yaseen Hussain, known as Billa, is standing in Tipton and Wednesbury, and former Labour election co-ordinator Mohammed Yasin is standing in West Bromwich.

Mr Hussain said: "We have proved we can get the vote out so this is an important moment in Sandwell politics.

"All three of us have been part of the mainstream political parties and have seen the squabbles and toxicity which goes on in the parties. And all the time the needs of our residents become lost in it all.

"We will put residents first. We will challenge the status quo in Westminster but also put the needs of the residents front and centre of the campaign.

"This movement will only get bigger as the election approaches."

Mr Hussain helped coordinate Mr Yakoob's Mayoral campaign which won 70,000 votes despite only being launched four weeks before the May 2 poll.

All three Independent candidates will pool resources for the campaigning needed in a General Election, which has to be called by Rishi Sunak before the end of the year. The General Election will be the first time there has been a poll since the constituency boundaries changed, with West Bromwich replacing West Bromwich West and West Bromwich East, with Tipton and Wednesbury being created and Warley being replaced by Smethwick.

Mohammed Yasin said: "In the last 24 years both Labour and Conservatives have represented Sandwell locally and at Westminster yet the borough remains one of the most deprived in the country. It has been riddled with Labour scandals and suffers from Tory neglect.

"In all these years both Labour and Conservatives have presided over unsustainable net immigration levels, lack of funding for public services, poor infrastructure and failed levelling up funding bids for Sandwell.

"There have been job losses, an increase in antisocial behaviour and crime and a decrease in living standards for our residents."

Former Sandwell Conservative Federation chairman Jay Anandou is pleased to be joining the Independent movement and standing in Smethwick, currently held by Warley Labour veteran MP John Spellar.

He said: "I want to create change after so many years of inaction. The loss of the green space at Brandhall was a disgrace and shows how local people's wishes are ignored. The people of Sandwell now have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to vote for change."

Independent candidates from across the West Midlands will be announcing they are running in the General Election in the coming weeks.