Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice has said if reporters “act as activists” then “maybe we don’t have to talk to them”, after one of its council leaders banned councillors from speaking to journalists at a local newspaper.
Mick Barton, the Reform UK leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, last week told his party’s 40 other councillors not to give interviews or send press releases to Nottinghamshire Live or its local democracy reporters (LDRs), and said the ban will only be lifted for emergencies such as flooding.
As the row between the newspaper and the council leader escalated, Mr Barton committed to his decision and warned his party would also “not be engaging with any other media outlet we consider to be consistently misrepresenting out politics, actions, or intentions”.
Mr Barton told ITV News Central on Tuesday that he will not speak to the reporters again until he receives “a full apology”.
According to the news outlet, he said: “They asked me for opinions but they weren’t putting out what I said. They were spinning what I said, cutting it in half, making it say something different.
“The one thing I am every day in my working life is professional, but unfortunately I think from their point of view they haven’t been totally professional.”
That same day, BBC Radio Bristol asked Mr Tice if he believes in free speech and “being challenged” in light of the council’s Nottinghamshire Live decision.
Mr Tice responded: “Yes, absolutely, and at press conferences we take more questions from the press – I took 15 questions yesterday, I do more media rounds probably than most other politicians.
“But there’s a difference between the media and people who pretend to be media and act as activists, and that’s where we draw the line, and that’s a judgment that has been made in Nottinghamshire.”
He added: “I’m sure they’ll sort it out. But also, you know, freedom of speech means that if someone acts as an activist, then actually maybe we don’t have to talk to them – we’re talking to lots of other people, we enjoy scrutiny and accountability.”
His decision has been criticised with Chris Morley, the senior organiser for the north and midlands at the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), saying “if reporters are barred from interviewing key councillors about those decisions, it risks creating a vacuum of democracy.”
Natalie Fahy, the editor of Nottinghamshire Live, said in an article on the newspaper’s website: “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. When the press is not welcome, you know democracy itself is in danger.”
