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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Adam Robertson

Fiona Bruce slammed for 'unacceptable framing' of SNP on Question Time

FIONA Bruce has been slammed for “unacceptable framing” and “editorialising” in her introduction to Thursday night's Question Time.

At the beginning of the show, which took place in Fort William, Bruce said: “Tonight Question Time is in Scotland for the first time since the SNP came off the rails in such spectacular fashion.

“Following Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation and the arrest of high-profile SNP officials in the course of a police investigation into party finances, the audience here in Fort William want to know what it all means for Scotland and for the UK.”

Both the SNP’s former chief executive Peter Murrell and former treasurer Colin Beattie were arrested and subsequently released without charge.

Many took to Twitter to criticise Bruce for the way in which the show had been introduced.

National columnist Gerry Hassan said it was “impossible to imagine” that Bruce or any other BBC journalist would “describe the UK Tories in such a manner”.

He added: “Am not saying the SNP do not have difficult questions to answer or are not in a difficult place but this is unacceptable framing & editorialising by the BBC.

“Fiona Bruce has never introduced #bbcqt in such a partisan way about Tory or Labour problems.”

Many agreed with those comments with one Twitter user asking if the Tory Party was “ever described in such a denigrating way when they spectacularly imploded”.

Another user, who admitted they were not a supporter of the SNP, nonetheless described the comments as “disgraceful”.

Somebody else said it was “appalling” while another Twitter user added: “Let’s have a General Election tomorrow and we’ll see which party has come ‘off the rails’.”

A wide variety of topics were discussed on Question Time on Thursday night, including whether or not opposition parties are acting in an overly confident fashion about the supposed “demise” of the SNP without themselves offering an alternative.  

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