Only one member of a representative panel of Swindonians was able to name the leader of the council ahead of May's elections.

The five-strong group, formed for the BBC's current affairs programme PM, discussed various issues the town is facing before it goes to the polls on May 4.

But when asked by host Evan Davis to name the man in charge of Swindon Borough Council, only one could remember it was David Renard, in his 10th year in the job.

It came after silence, some umming and a tentative suggestion of Sir Robert Buckland - the former justice secretary and current South Swindon MP.

During the programme, Mr Davis said Swindon is “a barometer for the rest of the country”.

The five-person panel was mixed in age and sex; there were three men - Gerry, Graham and Chris, and two women - Suzy and Amy.

READ MORE: Elections 2023: Who can I vote for in Swindon?

Gerry, the oldest, said he would vote Liberal Democrat; Suzy will stick with the Conservatives; Amy is settled on Labour; Graham, a former Labour voter will vote Green; and Chris said he is still undecided.

But none of them are necessarily happy with the way things are going, either in the town or the UK.

Evan Davis brought up the town centre as a big issue. Susie said it was taking its time to be regenerated, but said she’d be sticking with the Conservatives to maintain “progress that has already started”.

Amy said she had tried to rent a shop unit for the business she runs but that the rents and rates in the town centre were too expensive and Chris, who runs a business in Old Town, said: “The trouble with the town centre is it's owned by a lot of different landlords and developers and there’s no coherent strategy for it.”

Asked whether they’d be voting on national or local issues Gerry said his choice was purely local, while Graham said: “I’ll be voting Green because the national Labour party seems to have taken a sharp rightward turn.”

READ MORE: Elections 2023: Where power could be won or lost

Amy also said she was voting Labour because the party’s policies on the NHS and on business affected her family and her business, while Chris, who said he’d been supported by the government during the pandemic but had been dismayed by some developments since, said he wanted to speak to the local candidates in his ward.

The elections will be held on Thursday, May 4. The votes will be counted and the results announced the next day.