Richard Tice’s comments sparked a fierce defence from Nottinghamshire Live’s newspaper, who accused Reform of ‘childish behaviour’ and completely refuted his accusation
Reform UK’s deputy leader has branded journalists of an established local newspaper and website “activists” as he defended a chilling decision to restrict their access to the party.
Richard Tice claimed Nottinghamshire Live – owned by the Mirror ’s parent company, Reach plc – has “acted in a way of activism against Reform”. The MP for Boston and Skegness admitted his claim was only based on the party’s judgment, which came after the media outlet published a critical story about Reform UK.
His comments sparked a fierce defence from Nottinghamshire Live’s newspaper editor Natalie Fahy, who accused Reform of “childish behaviour” and completely refuted Mr Tice’s accusation.
In a Donald Trump-esque move, Reform’s council leader at Nottingham County Council (NCC) last month banned reporters from Nottinghamshire Live/Post and the local democracy reporting service from receiving the party’s press notices and interviewing him or the 40 elected Reform councillors in the area.
READ MORE: Nigel Farage faces fury after Reform UK’s chilling Trump-esque local media ban
Asked if he agreed with Mick Barton’s ban, Mr Tice told the Mirror: “People who behave as activists are, what we can conclude, not media and Nottinghamshire Live have essentially acted in a way of activism against Reform.
“And the joy of a democratic society is that we take lots of scrutiny. We do more, probably, media interviews and questions than anybody else.
“But when someone moves from being a media organisation to an activist organisation – in our judgment, they would deny that – then conversations need to be had, and that’s the reality.”
Pressed whether this was a threat to other publications if Reform is elected, Mr Tice added: “We love criticism, we love criticism, we get criticism more than anybody, probably. We deal with it by performing. So no, there’s a difference between legitimate scrutiny and accountability and criticism – and activism.”
Natalie Fahy said: “Richard Tice may well believe what he is saying about Reform loving criticism but that message has not filtered down to Nottinghamshire County Council.
“They’ve shut up shop at the first whiff of a critical story. I completely refute the suggestion that our journalists have behaved as ‘activists’ when we simply reported that councillors may be suspended if they didn’t vote with the party on local government reorganisation options. That is a fact and it is not inaccurate.
“It’s important to remember here that we didn’t come looking for a fight with Reform – they picked one with us with no reasonable conversation or attempt to mediate at all. Reform’s voters are the ones suffering here and they deserve better than this childish behaviour.”
A Labour Party spokesperson, responding to Reform UK’s press conference, which centred on pension fund reform in local councils, said: “When Reform get into power in local councils they make things worse for local residents, not better: threatening to hike council tax on low income families in Durham, increasing parking charges in Lancashire, and even banning the council from speaking to its local newspaper in Nottinghamshire. They simply can’t be trusted.”
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