A former Swindon Town FC football secretary - who has also briefed Labour and Conservative ministers and the bosses of huge finance companies - wants to reform politics in Swindon.

David Norris is standing as an independent candidate in the Swindon Borough Council elections on May 4 for the ward of Walcot & Park North.

And the born-and-bred Swindonian says he’s offering an alternative to normal party politics.

He also said he could become "the most powerful councillor in the chamber" and would "leverage" any small majority to improve his ward.

Mr Norris, 48, said: “Our politics is broken. It’s divisive, dishonest and corrupt.

“On all the big questions of the day Labour have been hand-in-hand with the Conservative government. The reality is, we don’t have an opposition, just a unaparty.

“The real divide isn’t between left and right, it’s between ordinary people, and a tired self-serving establishment.”

With the election this year a highly contested one, Mr Norris said being an independent councillor could put him in a position of some power: “If no party has overall control, then as an independent I could be the most powerful councillor in the chamber, and my ward of Walcot & Park North would be the most important in the borough.

“Even if there is a party with a small majority, then the ruling party couldn’t be sure of always winning votes, and I would leverage that to improve my ward.”

Mr Norris says the number one issue on the doorstep as he canvasses is potholes. He said: “If I’m elected I’ll use my influence to create a better, common sense way of  fixing the roads in the borough.”

And he makes a pitch for people to vote with their convictions: “The other thing I hear a lot is that people would vote for me if they thought an independent can win.

“But about 70 per cent of people won’t vote in this election, so the bar for winning is very low. I just need those people who say they’d vote for an independent, [to] do so, I’ve got a real chance of winning.”

Mr Norris has had a varied career. He was the football secretary for the Robins between 1998 and 2000, dealing with all the admin of the football side of the operation: “I’d make sure players were registered, I’d organise friendlies, but I lost my job when the club went into administration."

After that Mr Norris joined the civil service and was a policy advisor to ministers in both Labour and Conservative governments, then moved to his wife’s home of Hong Kong where he worked for finance giant Manulife.

Other candidates in Walcot & Park North are Emma Bushell standing for Labour, Agnelo Estrocio for the Conservatives and Dawn Pajak for the Liberal Democrats.