The events at Glastonbury were disgraceful and must not go unpunished, writes Richard Tice

30 June 2025, 18:13

By Richard Tice

The events at Glastonbury this past weekend were disgraceful and must not go unpunished.

Calling for the death of anyone is unacceptable in any peaceful and civilised society. This is the kind of behaviour that marks the line between civilisation and savagery.

It also serves as a stark reminder of the two-tiered justice system that now plagues the United Kingdom.

We live in a country where child predators and aspiring terrorists receive lighter sentences than those who post offensive tweets. A country where police carry out 30 home visits a day over social media posts, yet look the other way when it comes to grooming gangs, and fail to deport foreign criminals.

Meanwhile, women like Lucy Connolly—a mother—can face up to three years in prison for a nasty tweet.

While her remarks were wrong, they most certainly were not deserving of such severe punishment. If Bob Vylan walks away from this unscathed, for a crime far worse than Lucy’s, we only have greater evidence of two-tier justice.

Bob Vylan vocalist Pascal Robinson-Foster has neither retracted his comments nor offered an apology. This remains an active incitement of violence against the soldiers of a close ally.

Keep in mind, Lucy Connolly is currently serving prison time with violent criminals for a post that was swiftly deleted. A post she made in a flash of anger following the attacks in Southport.

This is a justice system broken by decades of neglect from both the Conservative and Labour parties.

The British people deserve a justice system that treats everyone equally—one that never tolerates calls for violence or death chants. The hardworking British public deserves a system that protects them, not one driven by political agendas or double standards.

Bob Vylan stood before an audience of nearly 65,000 people, chanting “death to the IDF” and “I hear you want your country back, shut the f**k up”.

A Reform government will ensure you truly get your country back—a country full of people that love it and are willing to fight for it. A country that is safe, patriotic, and free. A country where there is no place for lunatics chanting for death and violence at a music festival.

This is not the United Kingdom we grew up in, and it is certainly not the one we wish to leave to our children and grandchildren.

Reform will bring us back to a country of sanity and security—a nation that puts its own people first. A country where hard work is rewarded, everyone has a fair chance to succeed, and all people are treated equally under the law. They must be judged by their actions, not by their race or religion.

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Richard Tice is Deputy Leader of Reform UK and MP for Boston and Skegness.

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