Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf. Photo Ben Whitley/PA Wire
Martin Shipton
Reform UK’s head of policy Zia Yusuf launched a culture war in Wales by threatening to withhold funding from Bangor University after its student debating society refused to host two leading figures from his party.
Under the heading “Reform UK are not welcome at Bangor University”, the university’s Debating and Political Society issued a statement that said: “The Debating and Political Society received a request from Jack Anderton and Sarah Pochin MP of Reform UK to attend Bangor University and give a Q&A to students. In line with our values, this request was refused.
“We stand by this decision as a committee. We have 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.
“We are 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.”
Anderton is a young social media adviser to Nigel Farage who has suggested that Britain would be better off had it stayed neutral in the second world war instead of fighting Nazi Germany, has said the UK should not support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression and has argued that in a future world of “meritocracy”, the UK could “regain” former colonies such as Australia, Canada and South Africa.
Sarah Pochin won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election in May 2025, taking the seat from Labour by six votes. She was forced to apologise after stating: “It drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people.”
‘Racist’
Yusuf responded to the debating society with an angry post on X that said: “Bangor University have [sic] banned Reform and called us ‘racist, transphobic and homophobic’.
“Bangor receives £30 million in state funding a 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. After all, they wouldn’t want a racist’s money, would they?”
For many, Yusuf’s comments evoked comparisons with the behaviour of President Trump in the US, who has sought to defund what he regards as left-wing universities, including some of the most iconic like Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Columbia University in New York.
Nick Webb responded: “It’s not a university ban. It’s one small group of students who’ve decided they don’t want to host you – as is their right.”
Former Bridgend Labour council leader Jeff Jones answered Yusuf with a post stating: “What an idiotic thing to say. This is the UK in 2026, not Italy in 1922 or Germany in 1933.”
Rhys Llwyd wrote: “As a Bangor PhD graduate, I fully support the decision. “Threatening to withhold funding while showing zero grasp of the institution’s origins or philosophical tradition only underlines why the far right is a threat to our Welsh way of life.”
Plaid Cymru councillor Gareth Parry, from Bangor, wrote: “@ZiaYusufUK threatening Welsh universities for their student debating socs making their own decisions? That’s not patriotism. That’s petty authoritarianism with a Union Jack filter.”
Somebody with the handle lunaperla wrote: “Just a man who’s never been elected to anything threatening to defund a university because he’s too stupid to know the difference between the university and a student organisation.”
Huw L Williams wrote: “We’re so far gone that people can’t conceive of the fact that some legitimately regard a toxic party led by a racist who is adjacent to Trump as being beyond the pale – and the fact that they have a handful of MPs does not give them some form of immunity from moral opprobrium.”
‘Nazi vibes’
Sam Smith-Higgins wrote: “Quite the statement from Reform. A Reform Gov. would not fund a university who didn’t agree with them. Where have we heard that before? Nazi vibes. What scary times we live in.”
Bryant Bradshaw wrote: “They made their decision very clear. They fundamentally disagree with the policies of Reform and do not want to promote messages they fundamentally disagree with. A Supreme Court ruling in the Asher Baking Company case in 2018 protects society’s right to do that.”
The court held that people in the United Kingdom could not legally be forced to promote a message they fundamentally disagreed with.
Perhaps ironically, the court ruled in favour of a bakery in Northern Ireland whose Christian owners refused to decorate a cake displaying the slogan “Support Gay Marriage”.
‘Source of pride’
Sian Gwenllian MS strongly condemned Yusuf’s comments. Speaking in the Senedd on 10 February, the MS said the comments amounted to an explicit threat to de-fund Bangor University and demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of both the institution and the Arfon constituency.
“Bangor University is one of the major employers in our area,” she said. “It provides work for hundreds of people and supports a wide local economy, from electricians to academic staff who train the doctors and nurses of the future. To threaten its funding is to threaten the economic and social wellbeing of the whole community.”
The Arfon MS continued: “The university is central to the community and economic life of Arfon. It was founded through the efforts and sacrifices of the quarrymen of this area, and it remains a source of pride and opportunity for generations of local people.”
“Bullying and threatening higher education institutions, in the style we have seen elsewhere, is entirely disgraceful and completely at odds with our values here in Wales. Reform’s comments show they are not fit to govern.”
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