The choice has been set out for the people of Swindon.

The full list of candidates and their parties standing in this year’s local election for Swindon Borough Council has been published.

Five parties are fielding candidates; Conservatives and Labour are standing in all 19 seats, while UKIP have 12 candidates, the Green Party, 10 and the Liberal Democrats, nine.

There is one independent standing, Coun Teresa Page who won her Penhill and Upper Stratton seat in 2015 for Labour, but left to be an independent councillor last year.

And with the council very finely balanced politically, the two main parties will be hoping they hold their seats and gain others to either strengthen their grip on power in the case of Conservatives, or, for the Labour group, take control at Euclid Street.

Both group leaders will be standing in this year’s poll - Conservative group, and council, leader David Renard defending the seat in Haydon Wick he has held for 17 years. In Rodbourne Cheney, the Labour group leader Jim Grant will want to be returned for a fourth consecutive term.

Coun Grant said: “Labour will be fielding a full slate of candidates in the Borough Council elections, so no matter where residents live they will be able to support Labour.

Old Town ward will be the key battleground seat. With Labour’s strong reputation in the ward we hope the residents of Old Town and East Wichel will support us again to build on the good work of their existing Labour councillors.

“If there is no party in overall control of the council after this election we will of course want to work with councillors from other parties that share our view that there needs to be change in Swindon. That will include the Liberal Democrats and also the independent councillors.”

Coun Renard was not available to make a comment.

With 11 of their 29 council seats up for grabs compared to seven of Labour’s and one independent it might be that there’s more to lose for the Conservatives.

And smaller parties will also be hoping to make gains.

Coun Stan Pajak is the leader in the council chamber of the Liberal Democrats, who hold two seats. He said: “We have good local people standing in nine wards but we’re most optimistic about the wards we have councillors in already Eastcott and Wroughton and Wichelstowe, which we won last year. We want to build on the good work we’ve been doing there.”

If the party gains a seat or two, it’s possible that it might hold the balance of power between two deadlocked main parties; Coun Pajak did not rule out some do sort of coalition with either - but he was distinctly more inclined to the Labour group: “We’ve shared a lot of similar values and have agreed on a number of policies- I put forward a switch to a committee system which the Labour group has also adopted. I think we need to work together better. I think some sort of arrangement would be possible. If David Renard called me looking for a coalition, I’d listen. But I’m not sure about that.”

Coun Pajak added that while canvassing he has detected a significant sense of disillusionment with politics in general.

He wouldn’t agree on may things with UKIP’s Martin Costello, who is standing in Liden, Eldene and Park South echoes that. He said: “The turn out is going to be dismally low. People feel very disillusioned by what’s going on - they feel that Brexit is being betrayed.”

The party is fielding 12 candidates, and hopes to do better than last year, when it ran a full slate in 19 wards but struggled, never doing better than a distant third, and coming last in many wards. Mr Costello said: “I think in 2017 and last year people thought Brexit had been achieved, but we know that it wouldn’t be. So we standing to allow people an alternative to red and blue which don’t have a cigarette paper between them. I can’t see how anyone who voted to leave in 2016 could vote for Conservatives or Labour.”

The election will be held on Thursday May 2, with the count that night at Oasis Leisure Centre and results announced in the early hours.

To be able to vote, you need to be registered by Friday April 14. Visit gov.uk/register-to-vote to make sure you are able to take part in the election.

See the Advertiser next week for the start of our in depth election coverage with candidate profiles for every ward.