Question Time host Fiona Bruce was taken aback on Thursday’s show, after an audience member criticising the lack of foreign workers – which she assumed to be a remainer – was in fact a Brexiteer.
The programme, which featured education secretary Nadhim Zahawi; shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy; LBC host Nick Ferrari; National Farmers’ Union president Minette Batters and comedian Rosie Jones, was broadcast from Nottingham.
As Bruce turned to the audience for questions and contributions, one man picked by the presenter decided to blame our withdrawal from the European Union for the current shortages – such as a shortage of HGV drivers.
He said: “I think there’s a bit of an irony here when we’re discussing Brexit because, in my opinion, a lot of people voted for Brexit because they didn’t want foreign workers coming over here taking our jobs, and now that’s exactly the situation that we’ve got.
“We’ve got a lack of foreign workers which is why we’ve got these shortages.”
This comment appeared to frustrate Bruce, however, as she was after comments from Brexiteers, assuming the man’s anti-Brexit comments meant he was against the UK’s decision to leave the bloc in 2016.
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“Can I just hear from someone- ‘Cause I say, the majority of you voted for Brexit in this room, we select this audience very carefully to be representative.
“I’m assuming you didn’t vote for Brexit,” Bruce asked the audience member.
“I did, actually,” he replied.
“A lot of people voted for Brexit because of foreign workers taking our jobs & now we haven’t enough foreign workers taking the jobs we don’t want’.
— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) October 9, 2021
“Can I hear from someone who voted for Brexit?”
“I did vote for Brexit”pic.twitter.com/wbKPsAVAt0
Awkward.
“You did! Okay, and you’re still saying that, okay,” she said.
The interaction has since been ridiculed by Twitter users online, with many questioning what Bruce meant by a “representative” audience:
"we made sure to stack the audience with brexiteers and still we can't find any one in the audience who thinks it is a good idea!" 🤣
— The Equaliser 🧦 - 👻Agent of Deep Woke👻 (@socioEqualiser) October 7, 2021
Also bit odd that 5 years on they're still assuming current public opinion matches the referendum result. #bbcqt
— Seb Berry #FBPA 💙 (@SebPBerry) October 7, 2021
Did Fiona Bruce say / suggest that audience was carefully selected because they did vote for Brexit???
— Soozee 3.5%🇪🇺 #FBPE 💙#JohnsonOut (@suq01) October 7, 2021
"We deliberately selected the audience to be representative."
— Real JMM (@jmm_real) October 7, 2021
Of what? A referendum that happened 6 years ago? Why? Take a look at polling and see how people think it's going now.
Also, what about selecting the audience based on more recent polls? A clear majority now think that Brexit was a mistake. Will the #bbcqt audience be made up of 52% leave voters FOREVER?
— Amyn Merchant (@merchant_amyn) October 8, 2021
"We load this audience very carefully with pro brexiteers" Even they don't want it anymore. The times, they be a changin.
— Neil West (@westneilc) October 7, 2021
Hang on - Fiona Bruce says the BBC 'carefully select the audience' so that a MAJORITY are Brexiters -?? There has never been a pro-Brexit majority in the UK! Never! The Leave vote was 37% of the electorate, the Tory GE vote in 2019 was 29% of the electorate - so - 'carefully...'? https://t.co/ExCS2q1Sh0
— A C Grayling #FBPE 3.5% #Reform #Rejoin #FBPA 🐟 (@acgrayling) October 8, 2021
So so good!!! https://t.co/RR6MIGMgiU
— 🏴☠️ Geoff Barrow 🏴☠️ (@jetfury) October 8, 2021
And I thought the audience was half empty because of the social distancing rules. Sounds like, from what Fiona said that it's half empty because all the remain voters are locked outside and hanging round the car park!! https://t.co/MLRdATHtcc
— Tony Maudsley (@TonyMaudsley1) October 8, 2021
I wonder which careful selection process resulted in #bbcqt inviting Nigel Farage on it’s panel 35 times 😳?!! https://t.co/SclMHuzm3Q
— Tanita Tikaram💙 (@tanita_tikaram) October 8, 2021
The exchange wasn’t the only news to emerge out of Thursday’s programme, as Rosie Jones – who has ataxic cerebral palsy - published a statement to Twitter after the show criticising the ableist abuse she received during the broadcast.
