Reform threatens Bangor funding after students refuse to host MPs

A Reform politician has said Bangor University students should have their access to student loans revoked after a campus society refused to hold an event with the party’s members.

The university’s Debating and Political Society said it had refused a request from Jack Anderton, a political campaigner linked to Reform UK, and Sarah Pochin, Reform MP for Runcorn and Helsby, to attend Bangor and hold a question and answer session 

In a statement circulating on social media, the society said the request was refused “in line with our values”. 

The group said it had “zero tolerance for any form of racism, transphobia, or homophobia displayed by the members of Reform UK”. 

“Their approach to the lives of others is antithetical to the values of welcoming and fair debate that our society has upheld for 177 years,” it continues. 

Reform officials criticised the response. Writing on X, the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice says: “In line with our values, if Bangor Uni does not believe in free speech, then British taxpayers should not have to fund them. Perhaps remove all government funding and no student loans for Bangor students. The phone will ring very soon.”

Similarly, Zia Yusuf, Reform’s head of policy, claimed that the institution receives £30 million in state funding each year – “much of which comes from Reform-voting taxpayers”.

“I am sure they won’t mind losing every penny of that state funding under a Reform government,” he writes. “After all, they wouldn’t want a racist’s money would they?”

Claire Hughes, Labour’s MP in Bangor, described Reform’s response as “pathetic”. She posted on X: “Reform offer nothing but division. Fancy accusing Bangor University of ‘banning’ Reform and issuing threats. All because a debating society turned them down…?” 

University free speech campaigners have also weighed in, with the Alumni for Free Speech group writing that student societies are “free to decide who they invite” but warning that “blanket ‘not welcome’ statements are a governance red flag” that “risk normalising informal exclusion and chilling lawful debate”.

New laws that came into force last year place a greater onus on universities to protect and promote free speech on campuses but they only apply in England.

Recent polling by the Higher Education Policy Institute found that more than a third of students in the UK believe representatives of Reform should be banned from speaking at universities, despite the majority agreeing that higher education institutions should promote free speech.

Bangor University told the BBC that said societies were run by the students’ union, and it welcomed debate “across the political spectrum”.

In its statement, the society said it was “proud to be the first of the debating unions to take a stand against Reform UK”. 

“We strongly implore our fellow societies to join us in keeping hate out of our universities”.

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com