AN Independent candidate standing to be the next Braintree MP says he put his name forward after becoming “thoroughly disillusioned” with politics.

Alan Dorkins, of Steeple Bumpstead, is one of seven people vying to be the next person to represent the town in the House of Commons.

Mr Dorkins, 54, launched his campaign in Halstead at the weekend and claims his main ambition is to take a stand against the existing political establishment, which he has described as “rotten”.

After announcing his candidacy last week, he said: “It got to the stage where I thought someone has got to stand up and make a difference.

“I and many other people are just thoroughly disillusioned with politics at the moment and all the parties.

“All you see is non-stop bickering.

“The Tories will come up with something then Labour will stand against it and come up with the opposite. The Lib Dems will then do something different to both of them to get the votes.

“From my point of view, if people vote for an independent like me and make a stand against what is happening in Westminster, then they are saying yes – we are fed up with politics and the current system and want to see it changed.”

Mr Dorkins, who works at a bio-tech company near Cambridge, tried to visit the House of Commons on November 5 dressed like one of the Gunpowder Plotters, who tried to blow up Parliament in 1605.

He admits it will be “extremely difficult” to make an impact at the upcoming election.

Conservative candidate James Cleverly won the Braintree seat in the last election in 2017 with nearly two-thirds of the vote.

But Mr Dorkins says party politics could be given stern test on polling day due to the apparent disconnect between voters and politicians.

He said: “The biggest problem with politics at the moment is candidates for the main parties are all tied to their manifestos.

“You’ve got James Cleverly who is a Brexiteer because that’s his party’s policy.

“Then you’ve got the Lib Dems who are all for revoking Article 50 so their candidate is tied to that.

“They’ve all forgotten to represent the local people that matter.

“We’ve seen it with MPs who are fighting to remain in the EU even though their constituency voted to leave.

“None of them seem to be doing anything for the people anymore.

“If we started having independent MPs in the House of Commons it would change things and certainly for the better. You would have politicians who actually listened to people locally.”

Mr Dorkins added: “I work full-time so I will be doing my campaigning at weekends.

“I went round Halstead at the weekend and will be going around Braintree and places like Earls Colne over the next few weekends.

“It is going to be extremely difficult but I am looking forward to it.

“I have booked the week off work before the election so I will be able to do some last-minute campaigning.”