BBC apologises to SNP minister over election slur

Published on Saturday 14 November 2009 19:08

BBC Scotland has been forced to apologise after it wrongly claimed an SNP minister had a preference over who he wanted to win the UK general election.

In a highly-unusual step, housing minister Alex Neil received a forthright apology from Scottish controller Ken MacQuarrie following an interview for the BBC's The Politics Show. In the interview, Neil speculated on how a Conservative government elected at Westminster may impact on Scotland, pointing out how it could lead to an upsurge in support for independence if hostility to a Tory administration grows.

However, the programme then claimed that this showed Neil had expressed a preference on who he wanted to win the election. The broadcast sparked a furious backlash from the party and prompted Neil to make a written complaint to MacQuarrie, demanding an apology.

Scotland on Sunday has obtained a copy of MacQuarrie's reply. In it, the BBC Scotland chief declares: "I have checked the package in the programme and the full interview you gave and it is clear to me that, as you say, you did not state a preference for either Labour or the Conservatives."

He added: "On that point, let me apologise on behalf of BBC Scotland for the error in suggesting that you had."

But MacQuarrie said he disputed Neil's additional complaint that the programme had suggested he had "broken ranks" to declare he "wanted" the Conservatives to win.

"I have looked at both the trailer and the opening and neither said you had "broken ranks" or that you had "wanted" the Tories to win the election." However, he then concluded: "I do once again apologise for any misrepresentation of your views within the programme package."

The broadcast was shown across the country during the SNP conference. The BBC pointed out last night that First Minister Alex Salmond had been given every opportunity following the reporting of Neil's comments to challenge the story. In his letter to Neil, MacQuarrie said he hoped that "this goes some way to address the concerns you have raised".

The SNP's official position on the outcome of a UK general election is that it would like to see a hung parliament. Salmond has said such a scenario would enable a block of SNP MPs to extract a high price for the support a governing party would require.

Labour has tried to exploit this position by claiming it shows that the SNP is, therefore, happy for the Conservatives to run Scotland, even though they are unlikely to have many seats north of the Border after the next election.

The SNP is, therefore, sensitive to any suggestion that it actively wants a Tory victory, as the party knows this would hand Labour a major campaigning weapon ahead of the general election.

Neil said last night he was "disappointed" by the way his views had been misrepresented by the BBC. He also said he believed the BBC should carry an on-air apology, and not just through a letter.

It comes with relations between the state broadcaster and the SNP under considerable strain. Last week, Salmond criticised the BBC for giving so much air time to the BNP prior to the Glasgow North East by-election. He said he regretted "the irresponsibility of the BBC and others for generating the ridiculous and wholly unwarranted volume of publicity" to the far-right party.

Salmond has also criticised the BBC for its part in plans to hold a UK-wide general election TV debate which, at present, will not include a representative of the SNP.

However, the BBC routinely has to field claims of political bias from all sides of the political battleground.

Last year, Scottish Labour complained about the tone of the coverage from BBC Scotland political reporters. The party complained about references to the "London government" by its political staff and said the corporation often appears to be a "partial contributor" to political events.