Nicola Sturgeon: BBC complaints unit takes no further action over Sarah Smith’s comment about First Minister

The BBC’s Scotland Editor mistakenly said Ms Sturgeon had “enjoyed” taking a different lockdown approach to other parts of the UK.

The BBC’s executive complaints unit (ECU) will take no further action over comments made about the First Minister by BBC journalist Sarah Smith.

The ECU said 13 viewers complained after the BBC’s Scotland Editor said Nicola Sturgeon had “enjoyed” taking a separate lockdown approach from England.

In a 10pm live bulletin on May 18, Ms Smith said: “It’s been obvious that Nicola Sturgeon has enjoyed the opportunity to make her own different lockdown rules and not have to follow what’s being done in England and other parts of the UK.”

The ECU said 13 viewers complained after the BBC’s Scotland Editor said Nicola Sturgeon had “enjoyed” taking a separate lockdown approach from England.

At the time, the Scottish government had decided on a slower approach to easing elements of the lockdown in Scotland, in contrast to changes in England.

In response to the comment, Ms Sturgeon took to twitter, telling followers: “Never in my entire political career have I ‘enjoyed’ anything less than this.”

The ECU said it “agreed that viewers of the 10pm bulletin might well have formed the impression that Ms Smith was expressing an opinion about Ms Sturgeon’s motives, and that giving such an impression was out of keeping with the BBC’s standards of due impartiality.”

At the time, the Scottish government had decided on a slower approach to easing elements of the lockdown in Scotland, in contrast to changes in England. (Photo by Andrew Milligan - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

But the ECU also said that Sarah Smith had apologised for the statement on three separate occasions, saying on Twitter in one instance: “I do not believe that Nicola Sturgeon is enjoying this crisis.

“I had meant to say on the 10 o’clock news that she has ‘embraced’ the opportunity to make a policy unique to Scotland.

“I said ‘enjoyed’ by mistake. Not suggesting she is enjoying the crisis but embracing devolution.”

The ECU also said that an earlier interview in the 6pm BBC One bulletin on the same day, “corroborated” Ms Smith’s explanation.

In it she had said: “It’s been obvious how Nicola Sturgeon has embraced the opportunity to make her own different lockdown rules and not have to follow what’s being down in England and the other UK nations.”

But the ECU maintained that it had been “appropriate to issue apologies,” noting that it would be “more usual” to broadcast them rather than post them on Twitter.

“The fact that the First Minister had registered her objection in a tweet made a BBC Twitter account (supplemented as it was by a press statement) a more appropriate medium in this instance.

“The ECU therefore found that the action taken was sufficient to resolve the issue of editorial standards raised by the complaints.”

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