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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Political pressure making BBC biased against Labour and Corbyn, says former BBC chair – Politics live

Sir Michael Lyons, former chair of the BBC Trust, says political pressure is making the BBC biased against Labour and Jeremy Corbyn (right)
Sir Michael Lyons, former chair of the BBC Trust, says political pressure is making the BBC biased against Labour and Jeremy Corbyn (right) Photograph: Xinhua / Barcroft Images

Afternoon summary

  • Sir Michael Lyons, a former chair of the BBC Trust, has claimed that political pressure is making the BBC biased against Labour and Jeremy Corbyn. (See 2.06pm.)
  • Whittingdale has criticised ITV for not inviting Vote Leave to take part in its EU referendum programme featuring Cameron and suggested Ofcom should investigate. He told Sky News.

There is a campaign representing those who think we should stay in the European Union, and the prime minister is speaking for them. And then there is a recognised campaign for those who think we would be better off outside the European Union, and yet the person who has been invited to debate with the prime minister does not come from that campaign. I find that extraordinary ... The idea that the prime minister has attempted to tell ITV who they should invite or who they should not invite seems to me extraordinary.

He also said Ofcom could adjudicate on complaints of this kind. Asked if he was saying Ofcom should look at this, he replied:

As the culture secretary, no. As a supporter of Vote Leave, I will understand why Vote Leave may wish to make a complaint.

  • Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, has said it would send “a terrible message to the world” if Britain voted to leave the EU. In a speech at Warwick University he said:

Europe is the one continent in the world which was built not just on being a marketplace, but built on there being social rights and social responsibilities that we all accept.

I would think that we would send out a terrible message to the world if Britain - which has led the way in so many different respects in building the Europe that we have and in trying to make it a more humane and civilised place - simply walked away on June 23rd.

  • The SNP MP Phil Boswell has been ordered to repay £555 of parliamentary expenses after an investigation by a watchdog. As the Press Association reports, Boswell wrongly claimed for publicity videos that were posted on YouTube, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Association (Ipsa) found. The probe followed a complaint about the Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill MP by a member of the public. Boswell has accepted the findings and repaid the cash, Ipsa said.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

Tories say they have given the Electoral Commission the information they want

The Conservative party has said that it has supplied the Electoral Commission with the information it requested as part of its investigation into the overspending allegations by lunchtime today. (See 2.57pm.) A party spokesperson said:

We advised the Electoral Commission on 29th April that we would comply with their notices by 1pm today. There was no need for them to make this application to the high court.

Updated

The TaxPayers’ Alliance says the government should have gone further in its white paper and got rid of the licence fee. Jonathan Isaby, its chief executive, said:

It is regrettable that the government has ducked the opportunity for substantial reform of the regressive and arcane TV licence fee.

With the technology now in place for people to subscribe to their choice of thousands of competing channels and watch them wherever they happen to be, the time has surely come to explore a new, fairer funding model fit for the 21st century.

Here is the science broadcaster Brian Cox on the the BBC white paper.

This is what Ofcom is saying about the government’s plans to put it in charge of regulating the BBC. A spokesperson said:

We are reviewing the white paper proposals carefully and we will work constructively with the government, the BBC and the BBC Trust on next steps. The government is proposing a significant extension to Ofcom’s remit. We are confident that, with the right resources and planning, we can undertake our new responsibilities effectively and independently.

The BBC licence fee is likely to rise by £15 over the next five years, under plans outlined in the government’s white paper. As the Press Association reports, it has been frozen at £145.50 for the past six years, but will now increase in line with inflation starting from next year. The cost of a licence is forecast to reach £160.50 by 2021/22 – the equivalent of 44 pence per day. It will provide the BBC with over £18bn of public money between 2017/18 and 2021/22.

Updated

And John Whittingdale has told ITV’s Allegra Stratton that Vote Leave may ask Ofcom to adjudicate on ITV’s decision not to invite it to its first EU referendum event.

Election Commission goes to court to get Tories to hand over election spending information

The Electoral Commission has announced today that it is going to court to get the Conservative party to disclose information relevant to the allegations that it broke election rules by overspending in three byelections in the last parliament and in some constituency contests in the general election.

It is going to court because the Tories have not responded satisfactorily to requests for the information to be handed over. Here is an extract from the commission’s news release.

Using its powers under PPERA, and in line with its Enforcement Policy, the Electoral Commission may issue a statutory notice requiring any person, including a registered party, to provide us with specific documents and/or information as part of an investigation. This places the recipient under a legal obligation to provide the required material. However, if the recipient does not comply with this statutory notice, the Commission may apply to the High Court for a disclosure order which if granted would be the court compelling the Respondent to release the required documents and information to the Commission.

The Commission issued the Conservative and Unionist Party with two statutory notices requiring the provision of material relevant to its investigation. However, the Party has only provided limited disclosure of material in response to the first notice (issued on 18 February 2016) and no material in response to the second notice (issued on 23 March 2016). That follows the Commission granting extensions of time to comply.

John Whittingdale has been speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. According to her tweets, here are the main lines.

  • Whittingdale has criticised ITV for not inviting someone from Vote Leave to its first EU referendum programme. Whittingdale, of course, is a Vote Leave supporter.
  • He said David Cameron should debate the Vote Leave campaign. Cameron is opposed to debating fellow Tories, and so far he has not agreed to a direct debate with anyone. The ITV programme with Nigel Farage will involve Cameron and Farage being interviewed separately.
  • Whittingdale said he wanted BBC scheduling to take into account its impact on commercial rivals.

BBC director general Tony Hall rejects bias claim

And this is what Tony Hall, the BBC director general, told the World at One about Sir Michael Lyons’ claim about the BBC showing bias in response to political pressure. (See 2.06pm.)

That is an extraordinary claim to make, that our journalists and our journalism would in any way not treat impartially all sides of arguments during a review of the charter. That’s not the journalism I know. I think the journalism of the BBC is impartial. We test all sides. The journalists at the BBC do a really hard job in the midst of controversy bringing light and calm judgments to what is going on.

I don’t recognise [Lyons’ claim]. I think our journalists do an extraordinary job. And it’s why, in polls, time after time people come to the BBC to find out what is going on. It is why we are the most trusted news source in the UK, and I believe our journalists are doing a fine job, through the general election, through local elections, through referenda, in bringing light to controversy.

Tony Hall
Tony Hall, BBC director general. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Sir Michael Lyons' interview - Summary

Here are the key points from Sir Michael Lyons’ interview with the World at One. Lyons was chair of the BBC Trust from 2007 to 2011. He spent much of his career in local government, in chief executive posts, but he was also briefly a Labour councillor in the early 1980s.

  • Lyons said that political pressure was making the BBC biased against Labour and Jeremy Corbyn. He explained:

I don’t think I’m alone in feeling that the BBC has sought to hedge its bets of late. There have been some quite extraordinary attacks on the elected leader of the Labour party, quite extraordinary. I can understand why people are worried about whether some of the most senior editorial voices in the BBC have lost their impartiality on this.

When he was challenged as to whether he really believed this, he went on:

All I’m voicing is the anxiety that has been expressed publicly by others.

We had here a charter review process which has been littered with wild kites flown which, we can’t see the string is held by the secretary of state, but the suspicion is that actually it’s people very close to him. His own comments have suggested that he might be blessed by a future without the BBC. Is the BBC strong enough to withstand a challenge to its integrity and impartiality?

  • He said that although he welcomed many aspects of the white paper, such as the continuation of the licence fee and regulation by Ofcom, he was concerned about threats to the BBC’s independence.

The really big question is, is the BBC safe from interference by this government? Because this process has certainly led to very real suspicions that ministers want to get much closer to the BBC, and that is not in anybody’s interests.

  • He said it was a mistake for the BBC to agree last year to fund free TV licences for the over-75s from its budget.
Sir Michael Lyons
Sir Michael Lyons Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Here is the Guardian story about the BBC funding 150 local journalists.

Political pressure making BBC biased against Labour and Corbyn, says former BBC Trust chair

On the World at One Sir Michael Lyons, a former chair of the BBC Trust, has just claimed that political pressure has led to the BBC being biased against Labour, and Jeremy Corbyn in particular.

I will post more from the interview shortly.

Labour says it has 'real concerns' about the white paper

Maria Eagle, the shadow culture secretary, has now put out a statement about the white paper. It echoes the comments she was making in the Commons, when she replied to John Whittingdale, although the overall tone is perhaps marginally more critical.

The Tories have been forced to backtrack on many of their most extreme proposals for the BBC because they were out of step with the overwhelming majority of the public.

We know that John Whittingdale is hostile to the BBC, and there is still much in this White Paper which falls short of the three tests Labour has set on editorial independence, financial independence, and the BBC’s core mission.

There are still real concerns that the government will seek to influence the BBC’s editorial decision making, and that the broadcaster will come under undue political interference as a result.

The BBC is one of the UK’s most successful and loved institutions. The public have said time and time again that they value the BBC’s independence, and that they want it to carry on making the programmes we all enjoy.

In order to give licence fee payers the reassurance they will need following weeks of hostile briefings that have sought to diminish the BBC, these proposals should now be debated and voted on in a substantive motion in both houses of parliament.

The point about a debate on a “substantive motion” is important. MPs are expected to hold a general debate on the future of the BBC, but the government does not need to pass legislation to agree a new royal charter for the BBC. That means there is no bill for MPs or peers to amend it. Labour wants to give MPs a debate on a “substantive motion” so that it can propose amendment, giving the Commons the chance to vote for changes to the white paper plans.

Chris Evans says he is paid too much

The BBC Radio 2 and Top Gear presenter Chris Evans says stars like him are paid too much. As the Metro reports, he said he should be paid less.

People who do what I do for a living compared to people in the real world, get paid too much money.

We’ve got jobs that people would pay to do – if they could afford it – and sometimes those things aren’t even available to buy.

Most of us work part-time anyway, so just pay us less.

Evans is reportedly the BBC’s highest paid star, earning as much as £2m a year.

Chris Evans (left)
Chris Evans (left). Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Updated

Lord Alli, the Labour peer and TV executive, has released a statement describing the white paper as a “ticking timebomb” under the BBC. A founder of the Great BBC campaign, Alli said John Whittingdale had dropped some of his “wilder proposals”. But he said the white paper could still do “real and lasting damage” to the BBC. He explained:

In my view, this is a ticking timebomb under the BBC.

This week, along with peers from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, I set out three key tests against which the white paper should be judged – independence, the licence fee and core mission.

On each of those tests, there are serious grounds for concern in the future. To take each of the in turn:

On independence, the government is still intent on appointing many of the non-executive directors of an all-powerful new board while insisting on a ‘break clause’ which allows it to review the new charter after five years and leave broadcasters fearing ministerial sanction in every parliament. These are steps towards a state broadcaster, not a public service broadcaster.

On the licence fee, the government wants to create a contestable fund for which commercial rivals can bid for. This is a dangerous precedent which, coming hard on the heels of the £650 million raid last autumn, will damage the BBC and the interests of viewers.

On core mission of informing, educating and entertaining the whole country, the government wants to re-write Reith’s principles to include ‘distinctiveness,’ limiting its capacity to compete directly with commercial rivals – and preventing people watching programmes they love when they want to watch them. This will damage the BBC’s ratings and make it harder to justify the licence fee in future reviews.

All these changes have potential to damage this precious national asset that parliament should be given a voice – and a vote as soon as possible.

Waheed Alli
Waheed Alli, Labour peer and television executive. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

Updated

Jesse Norman, the Conservative chair of the Commons culture committee, has welcomed the white paper, saying many of its proposals are in line with recommendations from a report his committee published in February. In particular, it called for: the abolition of the BBC Trust, making Ofcom the BBC’s main regulator, having an 11-year charter period and making the NAO the BBC’s auditor.

Norman said:

The BBC is an extraordinary institution, but it can be made better still. I am delighted that the government has adopted these recommendations from our report, which was the product of wide, expert and public consultation. We look forward to examining the substance of the white paper in detail in the coming weeks.

In his question to Whittingdale a few minutes ago the Conservative former cabinet minister Peter Lilley claimed the BBC was biased against people like him. This is from the Times’s Kaya Burgess.

This is from my colleague Joseph Harker.

The National Audit Office has put out a statement saying the plan to make it the corporation’s official auditor will strengthen the BBC. It said:

The NAO’s role is to look at how public money is spent. The NAO has been auditing the BBC for a decade and this proposal would simply mean an extension of our existing work to audit the annual report and accounts and subject the Corporation to greater scrutiny – like any other public body. The BBC on a number of occasions has acknowledged the benefits of our work to shine a light on where it can improve its value for money.

The government has decided that it is time to draw BBC governance together in a single Board. We believe our continued and expanded role will form an important part of the strengthened system of governance for the BBC. It will also give the public confidence that their licence fee is being spent to best effect.

John Whittingdale condemns the petition calling for the sacking of the BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg. He claims the petition was initiated by Jeremy Corbyn supporters.

Here is our latest news story about the BBC white paper.

In the Commons the Labour MP Liz McInnes has just asked Whittingdale to exempt students from his plans to close the iPlayer loophole (ie, to make people pay the licence fee, even if they only watch programmes on iPlayer).

Whittingdale seemed to rule this out. He said it was important to close the loophole because it was costing the BBC money and he said people who watched programmes should pay the licence fee.

On Twitter a reader has been asking if there is a chart that explains the BBC’s governance arrangements, and how the new proposals would work.

Ever keen to oblige, I’ve found this on page 53 of the white paper (pdf).

BBC governance arrangements, current and proposed
BBC governance arrangements, current and proposed Photograph: BBC white paper

Two chief cheerleaders for the BBC welcomed aspects of the BBC White Paper on Thursday but cited continuing concerns about the impact of government’s plans to govern the BBC on editorial independence.

Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky said he would not welcome the report immediately after it was published by culture secretary John Whittingdale.

He said the “central and most troubling issue” was still the fact that the government planned to appoint a total of six directors of the new unitary board.

“Imagine if this had happened when there was a terrific spat over the dodgy dossier,” he said.

However, other celebrities were more welcoming. Armando Ianucci, whose landmark speech defending the BBC in Edinburgh last year led to meetings with John Whittingdale, tweeted his support.

Updated

Here is the Guardian’s key points guide to the contents of the white paper.

In the Commons the Labour MP David Lammy welcomes the plans to strengthen the BBC’s commitment to diversity. But will extra funds be available for this, he asks.

Whittingdale says he will continue to speak to the BBC about this.

BBC gives details of plans to boost coverage of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The BBC has also today released a 7-page letter (pdf) from Tony Hall, the director general, to the UK government and the governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland setting out details of the BBC’s plans to enhance coverage of the regions and nations of the UK.

Here is an extract from the letter.

In the months to come we will be saying more about our commitments to broadcasting in the Nations, including announcing the conclusions of our review into Nations News services, and confirming where we are able to invest more money in dedicated services.

As I have set out above, our first step will be to deliver the following initiatives:

  • Have a commissioning editor responsible for television drama in each Nation, and a comedy commissioner in Scotland
  • Set ‘portrayal’ objectives for commissioners so that all areas of network content reflect the lives of audiences across the whole of the UK
  • Agree new partnerships with the lead creative sector agencies in Scotland and Wales that match the partnership we have with Northern Ireland Screen, which we will shortly renew. These partnerships will build on the licence fee investment we are making and help support the creative industries in each Nation
  • Commit to spending more on English-language television programming in all three Nations; this is a particular focus of our efforts in Wales to address the decline over recent years. With all of this funding we will aim to attract additional investment alongside our own funding
  • Strengthen Scotland as a Centre for Excellence for factual production
  • In Northern Ireland we will focus our investment on our digital services alongside local television.

Whittingdale has just mentioned this letter in the Commons, in answer to a question. He said it would be going to the Welsh first minister, but, in a reference to events in Cardiff yesterday, he said it would be interesting to see who opened the envelope.

BBC to fund 150 journalists to boost local council coverage

Whittingdale said in his announcement that the BBC would be doing more to promote democracy by improving the coverage of local councils. The BBC has today set out more details of this initiative in this news release. Here is an extract.

The key initiatives are:

  • The establishment of a reporting service to cover local authorities and public services. The BBC will fund 150 journalists from 2017, who will be employed by qualifying local news organisations to provide a service to local news providers including the BBC.
  • A video news bank enabling BBC local video and audio news content to be accessed by other local news media websites, enhancing their online offers and making BBC news output more accessible to audiences online.
  • The BBC will invest in a data journalism unit which will work with partners across the industry to develop expertise and deliver content to all local news providers.

In addition to those key initiatives there will be a jointly commissioned independent audit to establish the usage of local press content by the BBC on its media platforms and vice versa. The outcome of the independent audit will inform a review of the BBC’s efforts to improve the linking and attribution of stories and sources.

The BBC says the number of journalists involved could go up to 200, depending on the outcome of a review in 2019.

BBC says government's plans for new BBC board are flawed

And here is the full statement from the BBC responding to the white paper.

The BBC is backing many aspects of the proposals, but it has concerns about at least aspects of the document: the plan to make the NAO the BBC’s auditor, and the plans for the new board. Here is an extract from the BBC statement.

There are some areas where the BBC will continue to talk to the government to address any remaining issues. These are:

The white paper calls for the NAO to be the BBC’s auditor. The NAO is already able to conduct value-for-money studies, and any further expansion of their role must include an explicit exclusion for editorial decision-making; and nor is it appropriate for the NAO to assess the value for money of the BBC’s commercial subsidiaries, as they do not spend any public money.

On governance, the white paper means that for the first time the BBC will be externally regulated by Ofcom but with a unitary board. This is the most significant reform in the BBC’s history. We think that is the right thing to do. Our view of how the new board is appointed to run the BBC differs from that held in government.

Tony Hall said:

We have an honest disagreement with the Government on this. I do not believe that the appointments proposals for the new unitary board are yet right. We will continue to make the case to government. It is vital for the future of the BBC that its independence is fully preserved.

Updated

This is what Tony Hall, the BBC’s director general, has said about the white paper this morning.

This white paper delivers a mandate for the strong, creative BBC the public believe in. A BBC that will be good for the creative industries - and most importantly of all, for Britain.

There has been a big debate about the future of the BBC. Searching questions have been asked about its role and its place in the UK. That’s right and healthy, and I welcome that debate.

At the end, we have an 11-year Charter, a licence fee guaranteed for 11 years, and an endorsement of the scale and scope of what the BBC does today. The white paper reaffirms our mission to inform, educate and entertain all audiences on television, on radio and online.

Whittingdale criticises 'leftwing luvvies' for 'ill-founded, hysterical speculation' about his plans

Whittingdale is responding to Eagle.

He says her complaints have been based on “ill-founded, hysterical speculation by leftwing luvvies and others”.

He says she set three tests for the white paper: that it should guarantee the BBC’s financial independence and its editorial independence, and that it should guarantee quality progamming.

He says the white paper does not just meet these tests, it exceeds them.

He says the board will have no involvement in editorial decisions.

It will only take a view on programmes post-transmission.

He says the new mission statement (see 11.07am) is more snappy than the existing one. And he challenges Eagle to say if there is anything in it she disagrees with.

He says the BBC Trust has welcomed the white paper this morning.

Eagle is still speaking.

She says she is glad the plans for a contestability pot (allowing commercial broadcasters to bid for BBC money to make certain programmes) have been shrunk, and that that are going out to consultation. Is Whittingdale willing to drop them altogether?

She says she does not think the call for “distinctive” programmes should be in the BBC’s new mission statement.

Will Ofcom get extra resources to allow them to take on their new role regulating the BBC?

She says she respects the NAO, and has no objections to it auditing the BBC. But it has to be clear that any work the NAO does does not interfere with the BBC’s editorial independence.

She says when MPs debate this, they should debate a substantive motion, so MPs can propose changes.

Maria Eagle, the shadow culture secretary, is responding to Whittingdale.

She says he briefed much of it out in advance. That is “deplorable”.

  • Eagle says many of Whittingdale’s “wilder” proposals have been dumped, or delayed, or watered down. That shows his diminishing influence in government, she says.

She says Whittingdale has described it as a £4bn market intervention.

In truth, in large part Whittingdale has “not got his way”, she says.

She says Labour will be examining the white paper in detail.

But she welcomes the fact the new charter will last 11 years. But she is “concerned” about the brake clause reducing this to five and a half years. That does not give the BBC stability.

On governance, she says she is worried about the make-up of the unitary board.

She says Whittingdale’s claim the plans enhance the independence of the BBC is “hard to reconcile with reality”.

We have seen the Vote Leave camaign threatening broadcasters overnight. What would happen if the government can appoint half of members on the board.

Will all board appointments be made by an independent process, she asks.

She says reports today that David Cameron personally intervened to ensure Rona Fairhead stays on do not augur well. The process should be more open, she says.

Maria Eagle
Maria Eagle Photograph: BBC

Whittingdale says he would like to see BBC content become portable, so that viewers can watch it when they travel abroad.

Whittingdale says the licence fee system needs to be updated.

  • The iPlayer loophole to be closed, so people watching programme just on iPlayer will still need a licence.

BBC staff on more than £450,000 to have salaries published, “in broad bands”

Whittingdale says the BBC needs to become more accountable to the public.

It gets nearly £4bn every year. People want it to spend its money more wisely.

The NAO will become its auditor, he says.

He says the new charter will require the BBC to publish the names of all staff and freelancers earning more than £450,000, the current director general’s salary, in broad bands.

  • BBC staff on more than £450,000 to have salaries published, “in broad bands”.

Whittingdale says the BBC will be expected to share its content more widely, and to open up its archive.

Whittingdale says Ofcom will be given the power to see how the BBC’s output is impacting on commercial rivals.

He says the BBC will be expected to work with commercial partners.

And it will have a duty to promote local democracy, working with other news organisations.

Rona Fairhead will remain as chair of the BBC Trust until her term ends in 2018, Whittingdale says.

Whittingdale says the next BBC charter will last for 11 years.

But there will be a chance to review it half way through.

BBC to have the opportunity to appoint a majority of board members for the first time

Whittingdale says the BBC Trust is no longer fit for purpose.

The division of responsibilities between the trust and the board is not clear.

There will be a new board, responsible for ensuring that the BBC’s output complies with the BBC’s obligations.

But the director general will continue to be in charge of editorial decisions. This will be made explicit, he says.

And he says the BBC will the opportunity to appoint a majority of board members for the first time.

  • BBC to have the opportunity to appoint a majority of board members for the first time.

Whittingdale says he wants the BBC to do more to serve black and minority ethnic communities.

And he wants it to serve the nations and regions of the UK better.

  • Whittingdale wants BBC to be the best broadcaster for diversity.

Whittingdale to put the BBC under a duty to provide “distinctive content”

John Whittingdale is delivering his statement now.

He says the BBC reaches 97% of the population every week.

The government wants to ensure it continues to thrive in a media framework that has changed beyond recognition.

The charter review wants to enhance its independence.

It will support creative endeavour, while minimising any impact on other commercial rivals.

He says the BBC delivers outstanding programming. Many BBC programmes have received awards. At its best, it is the finest broadcaster in the world.

But the BBC Trust has said in some areas it needs to be better.

And the director general has said it must be more distinctive.

Whittingdale says the government is not saying the BBC must not be popular. Many programmes are popular.

But editors should be asking if new programmes are distinctive.

  • Whittingdale to put the BBC under a duty to provide “distinctive content”.

Chris Bryant, the shadow leader of the Commons, and a former shadow culture secretary, suggests that John Whittingdale cannot be trusted to take decisions about hte BBC when he is part of the Vote Leave campaign that is at war with broadcasters.

And this is what Boris Johnson is saying about the Vote Leave/ITV row - that he doesn’t know anything about it.

Boris Johnson will claim that leaving the EU would create 284,000 jobs because the UK would be able to do trade deals with the US, Asian and South American countries. Speaking at a steel plant in Dorset, he will say EU figures show that trade deals with these countries would provide a huge boost to jobs.

These are deals that the EU has tried and failed to achieve due to protectionist forces in Europe.After we liberate ourselves from the shackles of Brussels we will be able to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs right across the UK.

Predictably the gloomsters want to do down Britain - they claim we are not a strong enough to stand on our own two feet. What total tosh. There is a huge world of opportunity and prosperity out there if we take this opportunity to take back control.

The Remain camp is likely to dispute such claims, pointing out that trade deals take years to negotiate. US president Barack Obama suggested the UK would be at the back of the queue for such an agreement.

This is from my colleague Jane Martinson, the Guardian’s head of media.

This is from the Telegraph’s Patrick Foster.

Whittingdale's statement to MPs on white paper on future of BBC

John Whittingdale, the culture secretary, should be on his feet within the next 10 minutes or so to give his statement on the white paper on the future of the BBC.

As the Guardian’s preview story reveals, he is going to propose abolishing the BBC Trust.

But on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show this morning Tessa Jowell, the Labour former culture secretary, said she had “grave concerns” about this. She said the trust was set up to represent the licence fee payer, and she said she thought a board dealing with day-to-day matters would not perform this role.

According to the BBC’s blog, she said it should “be made absolutely clear” that non-executive directors on the board would be “guardians of the licence fee payers”.

And here is Robert Harris, the author and former political journalist, on the row.

Here is the Times’s Hugo Rifkind on the Vote Leave/ITV row.

Actually, we’re not getting the Whittingdale statement is not coming until about 11.15am. There is an urgent question first on the EU migrants statistics. (See 10.21am.)

John Whittingdale publishes white paper on future of BBC

John Whittingdale, the culture secretary, is about to make his Commons statement on the white paper on the future of the BBC.

Here is the Guardian’s preview story.

Here is my colleague Alan Travis’s story on this morning’s ONS figures about EU migrants.

And here is how it starts.

A claimed “missing million” of long-term EU immigrants to Britain has been proved a phantom army, according to a special analysis by the Office of National Statistics in the run-up to the EU referendum.

The ONS say short-term migration – EU citizens coming to Britain for less than a year and sometimes just a month – accounts for recent gaps between the official net migration figures for long-term immigrants to Britain and the number of national insurance numbers issued to EU nationals.

Critics have claimed that a 1.2m difference between the official migration figures and the number of national insurance numbers issued to EU nationals over the past five years have proved the existence of a phantom army of EU immigrants and that the government “has lied over the scale of recent EU migration”.

But a special ONS note on the difference has concluded that the International Passenger Survey on which the official migration figures are based remains the best source of information for measuring long-term migration.

Lord Grade says Vote Leave's ITV threat 'unacceptable, if not shocking'

Lord Grade, the former ITV chairman, has strongly criticised Vote Leave for threatening ITV. He said:

As a former chairman of both the BBC and ITV, I hold the political independence of all broadcasters to be of paramount importance to our democracy.

Today’s attempt by the referendum Leave campaign to threaten ITV with political repercussions over their TV debate plans is unacceptable, if not shocking.

I know the public can rely on broadcasters to resist all bullying tactics in the run up to the referendum. If the Leave campaign has any complaint about a breach of statutory obligations to be impartial, they should take their complaint up with the regulator Ofcom.

Michael Grade
Michael Grade Photograph: Paul Grover/Rex Features

And ITV is rejecting Vote Leave’s claims that it “lied”. (See 9.06am.) This is from an ITV spokeswoman.

ITV has not lied to anyone, nor has there been any kind of ‘stitch up’.

Senior figures from the Vote Leave campaign have been invited to our debate on June 9 and have every opportunity to air their views and opinions on the issues in a two-hour long peak time programme on ITV.

It was our editorial decision as to who would take part in the June 7 programme; the PM called the referendum, and the country wants to hear from him, and Nigel Farage has been a leading proponent of an exit from the EU for more than 20 years and his party received 3.8 million votes at the election. We invited them both and they accepted.

We think our viewers will find both programmes useful in providing information ahead of polling day. Our programming will, as always, be fair, balanced and duly impartial.

As my colleague Anushka Asthana reports, ITV is rejecting claims that is coverage has been biased towards Remain.

The seven EU referendum 'debates' in full

There are at least seven EU referendum “debate” programmes planned by the major broadcasters. Here is the full list.

Thursday 26 May - A BBC programme aimed at young voters, broadcast from Glasgow and hosted by Victoria Derbyshire. Further details are not available yet.

Thursday 2 June - Sky’s first referendum progamme, with David Cameron for Remain being interviewed in front of a live audience for an hour.

Friday 3 June - Sky’s second programme, with Michael Gove for Leave being interviewed in front of a live audience for an hour.

Tuesday 7 June - ITV’s Cameron/Farage “debate”, although David Cameron and Nigel Farage will be interviewed separately by Julie Etchingham in front of a studio audience during the hour-long programme.

Thursday 9 June - ITV’s second event. This will be a proper two-hour debate, again chaired by Etchingham, with figures from Leave and Remain. The list of participants has not been finalised, but Boris Johnson has been invited.

Wednesday 15 June - A BBC Question Time event, moderated by David Dimbleby, featuring a senior figure from Leave and Remain. It is expected that they will be questioned separately, as happened during the 2015 election leaders special.

Tuesday 21 June - The final BBC event, two days before the referendum, filmed in front of a huge audience at the SSE Arena in Wembley. David Dimbleby, Mishal Husain and Emily Maitlis will present. The plan is for the debate to feature three figures from each side, but No 10 is particularly unhappy about this proposal, because they don’t want Tories debating Tories, and they claim the large audience could make it rowdy.

• This list was amended on 13 May 2016. Earlier versions gave the date of the young voters debate, as supplied by the BBC, as 19 rather than 26 May.

Updated

Vote Leave says it is considering court action to challenge ITV's debate decision

Vote Leave has issued a new statement about the ITV debates decision this morning. It says it is considering going to court to try to get it overturned. This is from a Vote Leave spokesman.

The government has set all the rules for the referendum to give itself every possible advantage. It has also demanded of the broadcasters that the prime minister should not have to debate representatives from the official Leave campaign.

ITV has accepted the prime minister’s demands without even discussing it with the official campaign and has allowed the prime minister to dictate his own opponent. Since the campaign began, ITV has also given twice as much airtime to the In campaign than to the Leave campaign.

We think that the prime minister ought to debate the representative of the official Leave campaign. In a serious democracy, the government should not be allowed by a free media to pick its own opponents in the official debates on the most important political decision in decades.

We are discussing legal possibilities to increase the chances that the public will hear the issues properly discussed before they make such an important vote on the future of their democratic rights.

The reason for the timing of the announcement is the government’s desire to distract attention from the immigration figures being released today. We hope that ITV covers that story properly.

Farage says it is 'deeply disappointing' that Vote Leave trying to keep him out of debates

And Nigel Farage has criticised Vote Leave for trying to keep him out of the TV debates. A spokesman for Farage said:

Once again sadly we see Vote Leave seeking to exclude Nigel Farage and Ukip from this referendum campaign. It Is deeply disappointing that rather than rallying behind Nigel Farage for what will be the biggest one-on-one debate of the referendum campaign, Vote Leave are instead threatening court action to stop Nigel from taking on the prime minister.

Nigel Farage has a proven track-record in taking on and defeating the pro-EU establishment. Indeed without him and Ukip there wouldn’t even be a referendum, let alone debates.

This referendum is bigger than the Conservative party and bigger than party politics. It is about the very future of our country and this ITV debate will reflect that.

All on the Leave side must put their egos to one side and support Nigel as he prepares to take on the prime minister in what will undoubtedly be the defining moment of the referendum campaign.

Peston dismisses Vote Leave's comment as a 'mad slur'

Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, used his Twitter feed last night to respond to the Vote Leave allegations.

As Peston points out, the Vote Leave comment (see 9.06am) suggests Vote Leave wants David Cameron to resign if Leave win the referendum. This is not what Vote Leave’s most prominent campaigners, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, are saying. They have both claimed that they would want Cameron to stay on in the event of a Brexit vote. Johnson said this as recently as yesterday.

Late last night an extraordinary email arrived in journalists’ inboxes. It was sent out in response to the news from ITV that David Cameron and Nigel Farage would be taking part in what they call “a live EU referendum event”. The rest of us will probably end up calling it a debate, although technically it isn’t a debate, because Cameron and Farage will not be going head to head. The email came from the Vote Leave campaign and it included this quote, attributed to a “senior Vote Leave source”.

The establishment has tried everything from spending taxpayers money on pro-EU propaganda to funding the In campaign via Goldman Sachs. The polls have stayed fifty fifty. They’re now fixing the debates to shut out the official campaign.

ITV is led by people like Robert Peston who campaigned for Britain to join the euro. ITV has lied to us in private while secretly stitching up a deal with Cameron to stop Boris Johnson or Michael Gove debating the issues properly.

ITV has effectively joined the official In campaign and there will be consequences for its future - the people in No 10 won’t be there for long.

Vote Leave did not name their source, although anyone familiar with Dominic Cummings, the brilliant but combustible Vote Leave campaign director, will have suspicions as to who he may be.

I will be covering reaction to this this morning.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: Leaders arrive for David Cameron’s anti-corruption summit.

9.30am: The Office of National Statistics publishes figures on migration from the EU.

9.30am: Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, gives a speech on the EU referendum at Warwick University.

10.30am: John Whittingdale, the culture secretary, makes a statement in the Commons on the white paper on the future of the BBC.

I will be covering the BBC statement in particular detail but as usual, I will also be covering the breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I will post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.

If you think there are any voices that I’m leaving out, particularly political figures or organisations giving alternative views of the stories I’m covering, do please flag them up below the line (include “Andrew” in the post). I can’t promise to include everything, but I do try to be open to as wide a range of perspectives as possible.

Updated

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