THE BBC have been issued a formal complaint for “bias” by the Glasgow Greens.
It comes after there were no representatives from the Scottish Greens on a “Glasgow Special” episode of Debate Night on Wednesday evening.
Instead, the show – on the eve of the crucial Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election – featured the SNP’s Glasgow Council leader Susan Aitken, Scottish Tory MSP Annie Wells, artist David Eustace as well as both Scottish Labour MSP Paul Sweeney and Labour peer Willie Haughey.
This led to some anger, including an SNP source telling The National that Debate Night appears to have “thrown the BBC's proposed guidance on balance out of the window” by including two Labour representatives.
But now, the Glasgow Greens have also branded the panel makeup as a “farce”, highlighting that their party is “by some distance” the third-largest in Glasgow in terms of the number of councillors and vote share in last year’s General Election.
The Scottish Greens have 11 councillors on Glasgow City Council compared with just one Tory, for example.
Now, they have made a formal complaint to the BBC.
Glasgow Greens councillor Anthony Carroll (below) said that it was clear the BBC are balancing only between the “parties of the past”.
“For the Conservatives to have a representative while they can barely hold on to any deposits in Glasgow any more, while the Greens – who surged to third place across the city – are ignored once again by the BBC, shows just how out of touch they are with the electorate,” he said.
Carroll, who is also the party’s democracy spokesperson, added: “I urge the BBC to address this in any future political broadcasts and avoid another farce. To not is a disservice not just to the BBC, but to the growing number of voters who are clearly not being represented in their political debate broadcasting shows.”
Councillor Jon Molyneux, who is Glasgow’s Green group co-leader, added: “Green representatives are significantly shaping the future of Glasgow, whether that’s by working to end rip off rents, by making our streets and public spaces safer, or by delivering new powers, like the visitor levy, which can raise tens of millions more for local services.”
He added: “It’s a shame – but perhaps not a surprise – that the BBC won’t platform Green voices which challenge the status quo, but is happy to conceal the well-documented political affiliation of an unelected Labour Lord.”
