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Reality Party Irlam candidate Jackie Anderson steps down amid sacking rumours


With five weeks to go until the local council elections, Bez’s We Are The Reality Party have reportedly dismissed their candidate for Irlam, Jackie Anderson.

In a statement Ms Anderson said: “As I have been asked to leave the party, I wish to state that I am no longer involved as a supporter, member or candidate of We Are The Reality Party.”

On the party’s website Ms Anderson was originally listed as a candidate for the ‘Salford West and Eccles’ consitutency for the general election, which does not exist.

But she later announced she would stand as a candidate in Irlam at the Salford City Council local elections in May.

Ms Anderson revealed to SalfordOnline.com the party told her they were ‘worried about her mental wellbeing’ and asked her to resign.

She had earlier been suspended over what she says was an unreturned phone call.

She said: “All I asked for consistently was greater communication and organisation and seemed to be pushed out as a result.

“For the record, I don’t have any ‘mental wellbeing’ problems.

“I will be standing as an independent in the Salford City Council local elections.

“I don’t want my name to be smeared or for the Reality Party to try to ignore that I existed.”

Ms Anderson, a local resident in Irlam, is a passionate opponent of fracking and joined the party after opposing IGas’ test drilling rig at Barton Moss.

In a statement to SalfordOnline.com Bez expressed surprise at Ms Anderson’s claims and denied she had been sacked.

“I suspended her and asked her to call me personally to arrange a meeting so that I could speak to her about some of the comments she had made on our internal Facebook page.

“Instead of calling me she decided to only communicate via social media or email, both of which she knows I do not really use.

“I have called her several times and she has not answered her phone.

“To my surprise she then posted a comment on our public Facebook page saying that she is no longer standing as a candidate for the party.

“In view of this comment we are of the belief that she has resigned.”

Mark ‘Bez’ Berry launched the new political party at a pub in Eccles in April last year.

Watch: Bez Reality Party launch puts party back into politics

He is standing in the Salford and Eccles consituency, while Nigel Askew will stand against UKIP’s Nigel Farage in South Thanet.

The party is planning a campaign meeting on Saturday 4 April on Salford Precinct from 12 noon.

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Tom is SalfordOnline.com's News Editor and community co-ordinator.



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