Dudley South MP Mike Wood was unable to attend last week’s key vote on the Brexit bill as he was in hospital, the Conservatives have confirmed.

The Tory MP would have given anything to be there for the crucial vote – according to the leader of Dudley's Conservative group, Councillor Patrick Harley, who said Mr Wood was "the only MP in the Black Country who campaigned for Brexit".

But the 40-year-old politician, who was elected in 2015, missed the historic vote which gave Prime Minister Theresa May the go-ahead to trigger Article 50 - after falling ill with an undisclosed condition which has left him in hospital for about a week. Cllr Harley said:

"Unfortunately - if you’re not in the House you’re down as an abstention. If Mike could have been there he would have but he wasn’t as he’s been unwell and in hospital – otherwise he would have been there for sure.”

A spokesperson for the MP confirmed he had been "unwell", adding: "We ask that his privacy, and that of his family, is respected at this time.

"Constituents should continue to contact his office in the normal way.”