Independent candidates in parliamentary elections often say they want to offer the voters something different from the usual three or four (or, these days, five or six) mainstream parties.

Martin Costello, the independent candidate standing in Swindon South, is hoping to be part of something different.

His vision is nothing less than a complete overhaul of how parliament and government work.

It’s rather high-minded, in its way, and sees politics stripped back to its basic function. Mr Costello says: ”If I was elected, I’d be working in Parliament for the benefit of Swindon.

“I’d be speaking out on behalf of all the constituents, I wouldn’t be taking any party whip, any line, just trying to represent what the people of Swindon want. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”

Asked how he might represent differing views, especially views and opinions that differ from his own, Mr Costello said: ”I’d invite people to come to speak to me to explain their opinion, tell me what they need from parliament, and I would raise it, and speak out for it. That’s what the job of MP is meant to be, representing the people.”

He adds: “When we’ve been going around talking to people about why I’m standing, what I’m offering people have been very positive. They are fed up with the main parties and what I think of as a blob where there’s no difference between them. The people do seem to want something different.”

In practical terms Mr Costello, who previously stood for UKIP in the 2017 General Election, says he wants to secure more funding for Swindon from the government and says of the town: “It’s shocking how it’s declined over the last 10 or 15 years.

“I grew up going swimming at the Oasis and that’s closed and there’s nothing for young people here any more.

“We need to introduce two hours free parking in the town centre to get people back to it, it’s in a desperate state.”

He adds: “If I’m elected, I’m going to be fighting for the funding Swindon needs, and not wasting it on things like the Fleming Way Bus Boulevard.”

Asked how an independent MP would fare in securing funding, Mr Costelo is hopeful: “There are something like 450 independents standing this election. If there were a lot of us elected, we could bring these things up and have a proper debate and discussion and divide the resources up fairly across the country, with everyone getting what they need.

“It wouldn’t be all to do with which party you’re in and which area you want to favour, or the backers of the party – the big donors.”

Mr Costello has entered into an alliance with Debbie Hicks the independent candidate in Swindon North, and he shares her conviction that the main parties in Britain, and its allies in Europe and the US, are moving inexorably to war, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine being the flashpoint.

He says: “We shouldn’t be spending all this money with the arms companies, and funding more war overseas, and getting sucked into it ourselves.

We need to be spending that money at home and we would want to see diplomatic negotiations to bring the war to an end. We don’t need more war, but we don’t see anyone trying to bring about its end.

“We need independent people in parliament, not ones beholden to parties and the interests that fund them.

“We need people working for their constituents, putting them first and we can have a proper honest debate in parliament not just a slanging match.”

Other candidates standing in Swindon South are MP Conservative Robert Buckland, Labour’s Heidi Alexander, the Green party candidate Rod Hebden, the Liberal Democrat Matt McCabe, and Reform UK’s Catherine Kosidowski.