A 71-year old retired businessman has launched his own political party because he is fed up with the rest.

Stanley Parr, of Paddock Close, Pershore, said his England Parliamentary Party (EPP) provides an alternative to the mainstream elite.

He decided to launch the party after defecting from UKIP, where he was Midlands spokesman.

Mr Parr said he resents Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats "handing our powers to Europe".

The politician formerly ran his own vending-machine business, Bluebird Vending, in Pershore before retiring in 2000.

He was a member of the Conservative party and voted for them his entire life until joining UKIP in 2001.

"I stopped voting Tory because I was frustrated with them," he said. "When I was retired I found I had all this time to research the whole political scene, so I joined UKIP. I was press officer there for 15 months and member for three years, but I found the whole thing very frustrating.

"It was like a ship without a captain. At the start of 2004 I left. Politics has gone downhill so badly in the last 30 years. I didn't know who to vote for, so I thought why not start my own?" He set up EPP after teaming with another UKIP defect, Paul Gilbert, who lives in Staffordshire.

The party plans to run local councillors in Grimsby and the North East in local elections this May.

Mr Parr has met West Worcestershire MP Sir Michael Spicer three times and has sent information to all MPs to spread the word that EPP exists.

"We have been working at this for 18 months," he said. "We have no money, but we have our beliefs.

"We have put in place the embryo of a party. We're going at our own speed, but Westminster knows about us. The next stage is to get councillors. We'll certainly be looking for some in Worcester."

The manifesto can be viewed at www.eppweb.com.