Coun Iqbal announced the surprise move today.

He will remain as an independent ward councillor until the general election, when he will stand as an independent conservative Parliamentary candidate.

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Coun Iqbal said he had notified his party and is expecting to be removed from his £6,000-a-year role as a Conservative-appointed Scrutiny Chairman for Kirklees Council.

He said: "I have taken this step and will lose some of my council allowances as a result because we cannot have another five years of decline and inaction.

"And whilst I have no personal animosity towards the Conservative Parliamentary candidate I do not believe he was the right choice for Dewsbury.

"I will continue to represent my constituents in Dewsbury South in the normal way and will look to bring together like-minded people who care about Dewsbury, Mirfield, Kirkburton and Denby Dale and I welcome anyone who wishes to join and support my campaign.

"Over the coming weeks, I will be presenting my vision for the future of this constituency and launching my campaign and I will be asking the people of Dewsbury to consider positively an independent candidate as their next Member of Parliament."

Conservative parliamentary candidate Simon Reevell said Coun Iqbal had obviously been disappointed at not being selected as the Tories' candidate for Dewsbury and Mirfield.

He said: "I think it's a shame that he's decided to leave the Conservative party. He was a good local councillor."

But Mr Reevell urged any voter who wanted to oust Gordon Brown's government that the best way to do this was to vote for the Conservative Party.