Councillor set to get the boot for daring to stand as an Independent

Cllr Melissa Briggs, who represents Barnham, has effectively been exiled by her party in the wake of her bid for parliament.

Her unprecedented move left district council leader Gillian Brown fuming, believing her fellow Conservative had 'acutely embarrassed' the Tories, who have stated they are standing firmly behind the party's present Bognor MP Nick Gibb.

The controversy began as Mrs Briggs, who will be campaigning on a single issue of preventing people living in leasehold properties being financially exploited, spoke at an Aldingbourne parish council meeting last week.

She revealed she was considering standing as an MP, leading to claims she was placing herself in a conflict of political interests, which she denied.

Cllr Gillian Brown confirmed Arun Conservatives had suspended Mrs Briggs for a period of six months.

She said: "Mrs Briggs standing at the election is not within our party rules and when Arun receives her election papers we will be expelling her from the group.

"The issue on which she is standing is an important one to some people, but when we have a national deficit to deal with we are not including single issues such as that in our manifesto.

"If it was so important for her to stand she should do so in her own constituency."

But the independent candidate hit back at the reception she received by the Conservatives.

Speaking on her Carlex Leasehold Independence Party (CLIP) (named after her existing Carlex campaign group which has already attracted national media), she said: "I have nothing against any of the Conservative candidates in this area or with the party and am merely standing in Bognor as it is near to where I live.

"I'm campaigning on leasehold property exploitation as it affects tens of thousands of people.

"I've had people ringing up suicidal because they cannot

afford maintenance fees and even had the CAB referring people

to us.

"It's not a new issue, it's been going on for 20 years and no-one has done anything about regulating the leasehold industry.

"I started the campaign because when my mother died two years ago she had been left in her block for four or five days without the warden checking on her.

"The company claimed it had no duty of care to do so '“ despite

job specifications stating that was the case."

Get ready for the Election

fter months of anticipation, the General Election was finally called last week and candidates for Bognor are priming themselves for polling day on May 6.

The broad spectrum of candidates includes Conservative MP Nick Gibb, Liberal Democrat Simon McDougall, Labour's Michael Jones and Andrew Moffat standing as the area's first BNP parliamentary hopeful.

Arun District Council Conservative Melissa Briggs is a surprise candidate, standing as an independent campaigning for leaseholders' rights. UKIP is being represented by Douglas Denny.

Across Arun, a total of 10,000 residents have yet to return

their voting forms and have until April 20 to do so.

MP Nick Gibb was in optimistic mood as he launched his campaign, believing it was time for a government with fresh ideas

He said: "Over the next month, the Conservatives will set out an optimistic vision about how to get Britain's economy back on course and set about building a better country.

"In particular I hope our plans to improve the NHS will be welcomed locally after the years of campaigning by so many people to save St Richard's Hospital and Worthing Hospital from being downgraded.

"And I am also looking forward to discussing our policies which will improve the standards in our schools.

"It's a vitally important election, I hope we can debate the issues in a serious but courteous way."

Lib Dem Simon McDougall felt equally confident.

He said: "We will be fighting the election calling for real change and a fair deal for our area.

"A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to cut taxes for those on low and middle incomes, give all our children a fair start in life, create green jobs and bring in big reforms to the way the country is run."

Labour candidate Michael Jones also believed he was well prepared. He said: "I've been the Labour candidate for Bognor for the past three years.

"Maintaining frontline services and restoring people's faith in politics is going to be important.

"We need people in politics who want to work for the public good."

"I am also campaigning on reforming the voting system and am very much in favour of holding a referendum on this."

Meanwhile, many of the candidates for the Arundel and South Downs constituency have also been announced.

These include MP Nick Herbert, UKIP's Martin Haslam, Tim Lunnon for Labour and Liberal Democrat Derek Deedman.