ELECTION battle lines are being drawn across the Black Country and Dudley looks set to be at the heart of the action.

Dudley North is currently held by Labour’s Ian Austin with a majority of just 649 and is a prime target for the currently buoyant UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Ed Miliband made Dudley his first stop after overseeing a miserable night at the Heywood and Middleton by-election, where his party only just survived a challenge from UKIP, who slashed Labour’s majority from nearly 6,000 to 617.

The Labour leader however remains defiant about the threat to Mr Austin’s seat at Westminster and during his visit to Dudley took a swipe at the UKIP challenge.

Ed Miliband said: “I don’t believe UKIP is a party of the working people, in many ways they are more Tory than the Tories and that is the argument we are going to taking forward in the next election.

“I’m confident about the next election and the reason I am confident is because we are setting out a plan which is actually going to make a difference to the lives of working people.

“I’m sure by making the arguments, including arguments around UKIP, we can be confident of election victory.”