Local Reform MP Lee Anderson has backed the boycott…
Despite Nigel Farage’s party claiming it supports free speech, Reform in Nottinghamshire has banned its councillors from engaging with a prominent local newspaper.
In an unprecedented move, the Reform leader at Nottingham County Council, Mick Barton, has said his four-month old administration will no longer deal with The Nottingham Post.
Natalie Fahy, the editor of the newspaper called the move “a massive attack on local democracy”. She also warned that Reform’s ban on the newspaper is a sign of things to come should the party win the next election.
Barton was allegedly upset by an article that The Post wrote, suggesting that not all councillors agreed on the plan for local government reorganisation.
A few hours later, local Reform MP for Ashfield, Lee Anderson, said he would join the boycott, stating in a Facebook post that he would engage “with some media outlets, but not you lot [The Nottingham Post]”.
In May, Anderson’s communications manager posted another attack message against journalists on his page.
The post said: “We will take our country back and these lefty out of touch low level so called journalists will have to go and get a proper job.”
In an article on the outlet’s website, Fahy said: “Reform UK makes huge noises about respecting free speech, transparency, honesty and being straight-talking. This boycott flies in the face of all of that.”
Fahy also said: “This is a worrying sign of potentially things to come if Reform wins the next election. What you’re seeing here in Nottinghamshire is probably a microcosm of how it will be across the whole of the UK if Nigel Farage becomes prime minister. You are just going to see this kind of shutting down of questioning.”
The Lib Dems have written to Farage to demand him to step in and reverse the “dangerous and chilling” decision.
In a personal message to Barton, Fahy said: “Grow up, Mick Barton, and start accepting a free press is there to hold you and your councillors to account.”
The boycott echoes Donald Trump’s treatment of journalists, with him banning The Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press from his press pools over disagreements with their reporting.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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