Farage asked to intervene after Reform council boss bans local newspapers in ‘Trumpian’ move

The Reform UK leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Mick Barton, banned the local newspaper - and its online arm - from speaking to him or any of his 41 councillors ‘with immediate effect’.

The editor of the historic local outlet, the Nottingham Post, has called the ban a "massive attack on local democracy” and a “worrying sign of potentially things to come if Reform wins the next election”.

The Liberal Democrats have called on party leader Nigel Farage to intervene, with Reform being accused of hypocrisy over the ban amid previous claims to support for free speech and transparency.

Lib Dem MP Max Wilkinson has warned LBC News presenter Steve Holden the ‘Trumpian’ move ‘sets a dangerous precedent’.

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“This is obviously totally outrageous,” he said. “I mean, I'm talking to you now in the broadcast media, and this is something that politicians have responsibility to do, particularly if they're in positions of power when they're in charge of things like councils.

“Now, this is a real sort of Trumpian style move from reform. And their leader, Nigel Farage, who's a darling of the media, of course, really needs to step in here and make sure that his politicians in his party are willing to be held to account for the decisions they make.

“I think the budget of Nottinghamshire County Council will be in the hundreds of millions, if not more than a billion pounds. And those people who are exercising the right over the spending of those monies need to be in a position where they're willing to answer questions.”

As part of the ban, reporters working for the newspaper and the local democracy reporters it employs won’t be sent any press releases by the council, and won’t be able to interview any of Reform’s councillors.

A spokesperson for the council said the ban would only be lifted in emergency situations.

Senior editor of the paper Natalie Fahy said she was “very concerned” by the “unprecedented ban,” to which Barton responded that the party would not “allow misinformation to shape the narrative of our governance”.

Barton said the move was "not about silencing journalism", but "about upholding the principle that freedom of speech must be paired with responsibility and honesty,” in a statement on Thursday.

"We firmly believe that open dialogue is vital to a healthy democracy, and we welcome scrutiny that is conducted with fairness, balance and integrity," he added.

"However, we also have a duty to protect the credibility of our governance and the voices that we represent. For this reason, we will not be engaging with Nottinghamshire Live or with any other media outlet we consider to be consistently misrepresenting our policies, actions or intentions."

The newspaper believes the ban stems from a disagreement over a story it ran about ongoing discussions relating to local government reorganisation.

Mr Wilkinson told LBC News politicians should be accountable to the press, and that “part of the responsibility… is that you have to answer questions about things you might not want to talk about”.

“You know, accountability to the free media is something that we hold really dear in this country.

“And, of course, Reform will present themselves as the champions of free speech.

"And those people who are going to speak up and be willing to answer tough questions, well, now they're in power in things like Nottinghamshire County Council and elsewhere in the country, they're going to have to front up and take part in that element of free speech, which involves them answering questions from journalists who are exercising their right to free speech.”

Reform UK has been approached, but have yet to comment.

The Lib Dem culture, media and sport spokesperson did not say whether the party had heard back from Nigel Farage after urging him to intervene, but said there are “too many questions that are being left unanswered by Reform.”

He said: “I think this perhaps betrays a lack of confidence that Reform has in its own policies, in its own messages, in what it's got to say and fundamentally its ability to run things.”