A party formed by a Labour splinter group in the 1980s is hoping to make a political comeback in Runcorn and Helsby on Thursday.

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) is standing 122 candidates at the general election and has set out plans to invest £10bn each year in manufacturing and force public bodies to buy British to reduce regional inequalities and create high-quality jobs.

Its candidate for Runcorn and Helsby is 40-year-old Paul Murphy. He lives in the constituency with his wife and daughter and hails from Bradford originally.

He said: "I've previously been a member of both the Labour and Conservative parties, but the truth is that neither of these parties represent me any more.

"When it became clear that I needed a new political home I took a look at the parties available and was instantly drawn to the SDP with their policies that seemed to match my own beliefs. When the call went up for candidates at the next election I jumped to put my name forwards."

He added: "The country is crying out for a change from the uni-party politics of Labour and the Conservatives, who are now so similar in policy that it's hard to tell when a new policy is announced which party the policy belongs to. If I can give the voters of Runcorn and Helsby a chance to vote for a genuine change for the better then I felt obligated to do so."

Something of a blast from the past, the original SDP was founded by the so-called 'gang of four' Labour politicians – Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams. The party struggled to gain electoral success and most members of the original SDP merged with the Liberal Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats. Some of those that remained went on to form the current SDP in 1990.

A full list of candidates and polling stations for Runcorn and Helsby can be found here.

Polling day is this Thursday, July 4, and voters must take photo ID to the polling station. A full list of acceptable ID can be found here.