Reform UK's Nottinghamshire County Council leader said he had banned Nottinghamshire Live over a recent article - but the story goes much deeper than that. The decision by Councillor Mick Barton has caused widespread concern across the country since it was announced and Nottinghamshire Live has been inundated with support.

More than 20,000 people have now signed a petition calling for Councillor Barton to reverse the ban - which sees Nottinghamshire Live and the Nottingham Post being denied interviews with him or his 40 Reform councillors. The ban has also seen Councillor Barton tell the council's officers to stop sending us press releases and to stop inviting us to events.

The apparent spark for this was an article which simply included a claim - which all parties concerned had the chance to address - that Reform councillors not voting for Councillor Barton's preference on local government reorganisation could be suspended from the group.

Yet unarguably key to this week's events have been past stories about Reform at the county council and the past relationship between Nottinghamshire Live and Lee Anderson. Below are some of the key moments that have led us to this point.

October 2022

Lee Anderson at this stage is still the Conservative MP for Ashfield. In the dying days of the Liz Truss premiership, Nottinghamshire Live asks all eight Conservative MPs in the county whether they still support their party leader and by the end of the day -

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