If you’d told me a week ago that this is where we’d be, I wouldn’t have believed it.

But I’ve had literally hundreds of messages from people in my community, urging me to run as an independent, because they feel there are no options left for them.

They are tired of the Tories but now feel they can’t trust Labour.

I never wanted to be an MP just for the sake of being part of the Westminster world. I wouldn’t have stood anywhere else but here.

From the start, it’s all been about representing my community, the community I grew up in and live in. That’s always been my motivation.

Standing as an independent is a chance to do things differently, to show people a different type of politics – one that listens to communities and represents their needs, not the desires and machinations of Westminster.

It will show what grassroot politics could look like – exciting and empowering.

My community is overlooked, underfunded and poorly represented. I intend to change that.