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Reform UK have been accused of a “massive attack on local democracy” after a local council leader banned his councillors from engaging with a leading local newspaper.
Earlier this week, the Nottingham Post said they had been told by Nottinghamshire County Council’s Reform administration that it would no longer engage with them or the team of BBC-funded local democracy journalists that the paper manages.
The move, which comes despite the party’s claim to defend free speech, has been met with outrage. The editor of the paper – which includes the Nottingham Post and its online edition Nottinghamshire Live – said it was a “worrying sign of potentially things to come if Reform wins the next election”.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats said the move was “straight out of Donald Trump’s playbook”. They called on Mr Farage to step in and urge Reform’s council leader Mick Barton to reverse the “dangerous and chilling” decision.
And Michael Payne, the Labour MP for Gedling, accused Reform of “rank hypocrisy”.
Speaking to the Guardian, Nottingham Post editor Natalie Fahy said: “It’s a massive attack on local democracy. I’ve been a journalist for 20 years. We have had our ups and downs with all kinds of councils.
“We managed to get along fine, because most elected officials accept this is par for the course. You are going to get some negative press. What you don’t do is shut the shop up.”
She added: “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.
“They need to be answerable to the people who elected them. We don’t take a political stance. We’re not anti-Reform. We’re just trying to find out what’s going on.”
The row began after a clip of an interview with a local councillor – which showed them appearing to have a limited grasp of their brief – went viral in June.
The ban was then put in place after a story published by the local news outlet looked at plans for a reorganisation of local government, and made allegations about internal disagreements within Reform’s group of councillors.
Reform MP Lee Anderson has said he will join the boycott, after previously describing journalists at the outlet as “lefty out of touch low level so-called journalists”.
Max Wilkinson, Lib Dem culture, media and sport spokesperson said: “Reform’s move to block local journalists from reporting on their work is straight out of Donald Trump’s playbook. It’s a cornerstone of our democracy that politicians of all stripes are held to account — but for some reason Farage’s cronies think they can make themselves exempt.
“This move sets a dangerous and chilling precedent for if Reform were to win power nationally and goes against our deeply rooted British values of freedom of the press. We must stand up to Reform’s assault on those principles.
“Nigel Farage pretends to champion free speech: I’m calling on him to take some responsibility for once in his political career and demand that Nottinghamshire County Council Leader Mick Barton reverses this decision.”
Mr Gedling added: “Reform told us throughout the election, and continues to tell us, that they’re the party of free speech and transparency. But it’s clear from this decision in Nottinghamshire that free speech and transparency only applies to everybody else and not to themselves.”
The ban means that none of the 41 Reform councillors will speak to Nottinghamshire Live and local democracy reporters, while press officers have been ordered to remove the outlet from media distribution lists. This means its journalists won’t receive press releases or be invited to events.
The outlet has claimed they have been told they will only receive statements from Reform councillors during an emergency situation, such as flooding.
Reform UK has been contacted for comment.
