The carpet fitting business belonging to the family of Mick Barton – the Reform UK leader of Nottinghamshire county council who barred the main local paper – has been threatened with a compulsory strike off from Companies House for four consecutive years.
Mansfield Carpets (Contracts) Limited, which is owned by Barton’s wife Gail, is two months late filing its 2024 accounts. For the previous three years the business also appears to have been late publishing its confirmation statement, which provides details of a company’s shareholders.
All four of the delayed filings are technically criminal offences, albeit ones that are very rarely pursued. In the three previous years the compulsory strike off action was discontinued after the filings were made. The company, which has no directors, also appears to have a county court judgment against it for £497.
A business with a similar name, Mansfield Carpets Limited, was registered by the politician last year, although he resigned as a director of the company after the local elections in May. Gail Barton is now its sole director.
Three further flooring businesses containing the word “Mansfield” in the company name have previously been registered with Gail Barton as a director – all of which have now been dissolved.
Mick Barton’s LinkedIn profile, which does not appear to have been updated since he became leader of Nottinghamshire council in May, states: “I’ve been self-employed since I left British Coal in 1992, after 10 years underground. I then became a sales director of a worldwide vehicle supply company for 10 years, before starting my own flooring supply and fitting company.
“This, my wife still runs today, as local government takes up most of my time. I’m still involved with the company, doing the estimating and surveying and overlooking the contract side.”
The council leader attracted national media attention after saying in August that he would no longer deal with the Nottingham Post, its online edition and a team of BBC-funded local democracy journalists that it manages, while also preventing the titles from receiving updates and press releases.
Last month, the publisher of the Nottingham Post warned of an “increasingly Trumpian approach” to the media creeping into British politics.
David Higgerson, the chief content officer for Reach, the owner of the Daily Mirror and a series of local titles including the Nottingham Post, said it was part of a trend that went wider than Reform.
He said: “When journalists are blocked from doing their job, it’s not just a concern for the media – it’s a concern for the public. Over the last few years we’ve seen this increasingly Trumpian approach creep in – and not only from Reform politicians – where legitimate questions are met with hostility or silence.”
The paper said this week it plans to take legal action, arguing the ban is a breach of its right to free expression. The council said on Thursday that it will now provide the Post with press releases and invite it to council events.
Barton said he would not comment on his family’s business. Gail Barton did not respond to requests for comment.
