A WYRE Forest district councillor says he will continue to give “100 per cent” to his role as ward representative, despite being selected as a candidate for a West Midlands parliamentary constituency at the next election.

Franche ward Labour councillor Nigel Knowles will stand for the party in Solihull in the 2015 national poll and has the task of making up 19,000 votes over holders Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives who were split by just 175 votes in 2010.

Mr Knowles, a former Kidderminster mayor and district council chairman, was elected back on to the district council in 2011 after a 10-year absence. He stood unsuccessfully for Labour in Wyre Forest at the 2010 general election.

He said: “I am absolutely delighted to be selected as Labour candidate for Solihull. I shall be going all out to win and we will be going after thousands of Liberal Democrat voters disenchanted with [Deputy Prime Minister, Nick] Clegg.

“I will definitely be seeing my time out in Wyre Forest. I love being a councillor for Franche and it took me 10 years to get back on [to the authority]. I will give 100 per cent to Franche being a councillor here.

“Obviously there will be times when the campaign in Solihull becomes more intense and I will be there.”

In 2015, all Wyre Forest district councillors will stand down before a one-off whole council election takes place to fill 33 seats, instead of the current 42.

Mr Knowles said if he did not win in Solihull he would stand again as a district councillor in Wyre Forest but it was unclear when that would happen.

He added he would be supporting Labour’s 2015 Wyre Forest general election candidate Matt Lamb