RICHARD Tice and Reform UK have been accused of being “fraudulent” with their promises and offering working-class people “nothing” instead, as a trade union boss tore into them on Question Time.
Speaking on the programme on Thursday evening, Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said it is a “blunt truth” that not a single political party in the UK is offering solutions to the issues the UK faces.
She went on to say that Nigel Farage’s party have been using working-class people’s discontent with the UK Government for their own political gain, while offering nothing in return.
Grady tore into Reform in a two-minute-long clip about how the party is not the answer to working-class people's problems following its surge in last week's local elections in England.
She said: “I want to be really, really clear, because I don't think Richard Tice, and I don't think Nigel Farage or Reform are the answer.
“Reform, we've just heard it, are offering nothing for working people.
“They're offering nothing on what is a rigged economy, they're offering nothing on how we're going to tackle privatisation. In fact, what you were just saying is, 'we'll negotiate better contracts'.
“Nothing on the NHS.”
Tice attempted to interrupt but was quickly slapped down by presenter Fiona Bruce, who encouraged Grady to continue.
Grady said: “Nothing on a crumbling infrastructure of transport, nothing on wages and the crippling cost of living, nothing on a housing crisis.
“All Reform stands for is a status quo politically, but with an added dose of finger-pointing.”
Two glorious minutes of Jo Grady rinsing Richard Tice and Reform. 🔥 #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/7mGydDYip0
— Eddie Burfi (@EddieBurfi) May 8, 2025
Bruce then interjected, asking Grady why she thinks people voted for Reform, to which the trade union leader replied, “I'm getting onto that”.
Grady added: “I think that there's a real issue because it wasn't immigrants that were cutting council funding in Hull, it was politicians.
“It wasn't immigrants who were slashing school budgets in Hull.
“It was politicians, and Reform would have been doing those things too.
She added: “I think you're being fraudulent.
“I think you're offering people the suggestion that you're going to change things, but when you've just been asked how you're going to change things, all you gave was coded, ‘we're going to privatise more’, and this is the truth that working class communities need to hear.”
A visibly irritated Tice attempted to once again interrupt Grady but was told by Bruce to let the senior lecturer in employment relations finish.
Grady concluded by saying: “We have to come together, we have to join trade unions, we have to tell the political class whether they're reform, whether they're Labour, whether they're anyone else, because Nigel Farage and you [Tice] are members of that political class, that we aren't having it anymore.”
Grady's warning comes after a recent poll showed Reform are set to sweep England at the next General Election.
The party is predicted to make ground in Scotland too, with a recent survey suggesting the party could become the main opposition to the SNP in Scotland after next year's Holyrood election.
