Former Labour MP Gaurav Sharma's confident he has the support to form a new party.

The Hamilton West MP today revealed he's quitting Parliament, but will run as an independent in the by-election his departure's creating.

He needs at least 500 people to back his yet-to-be-named party.

"People are looking for smaller parties and within the MP system, this is one of the times we've got the least number of minor parties around. So what I'm looking at is a centrist party which is focused on action and outcome rather than ideologies." 

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