FORMER Dudley MP Marco Longhi said Reform votes had "allowed Labour in" and that he is "at a loss to see how just 4 Reform MPs are going to change anything at all."

Mr Longhi lost at last Thursday's election to Labour's Sonia Kumar who has taken up the role of Dudley MP.

He took to social media saying that representing the town had been "the greatest honour and privilege of my life" and thanked all those who had helped him and voted for him.

But Mr Longhi added that the Conservative Party had "failed to represent the voice of the people" and that Reform votes had "allowed Labour in."

Mr Longhi said: "I completely understand why so many people did vote Reform and I am sorry I failed to persuade them that changing the Conservative Party from within was better than allowing Labour in - which will deliver the opposite of what Reform (and I) wanted.

"Reform, the Brexit Party, UKIP etc are all creations of a Conservative Party that failed to represent the voice of the people.

"Too many Conservative MPs presumed to know better than the people that elected them.

"I harbour no resentment towards Reform but I do think a unified and targeted approach would have been better for the country than giving a blank cheque to Labour.

"I am at a loss to see how just 4 Reform MPs are going to change anything at all."

He wished Sonia Kumar "well in what I felt was the best job in the world."