Political Balance Needed on BBC Question Time
- Submitted by: Kenneth Gibson, Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party.
- Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2013
- Motion reference: S4M-07006
That the Parliament expresses disappointment at what it sees as BBC Question Time's approach to Scotland; believes that in its occasional forays into Scotland the programme should try to reflect political reality north of the border; considers that two political parties, the Greens and Liberal Democrats, were excluded from the panel despite having significant local authority and parliamentary representation in Scotland, while two minor parties that are regularly on the programme and yet have no Scottish representatives were, namely UKIP and Respect; believes that having the Greens and Liberal Democrats on the programme would have given it greater balance and added a different dimension to the discussions, and calls on the BBC to reflect on its choice of Question Time guests and their relevance to Scotland, given that the only time any Scottish issues are debated on the programme is, it considers, when it is recorded in Scotland.
Supported by:
George Adam, Christian Allard, Colin Beattie, Chic Brodie, Roderick Campbell, Willie Coffey, Graeme Dey, Nigel Don, James Dornan, Jim Eadie, Annabelle Ewing, John Finnie, Rob Gibson, Christine Grahame, Jamie Hepburn, Adam Ingram, Colin Keir, Bill Kidd, Richard Lyle, Angus MacDonald, Gordon MacDonald, Mike MacKenzie, John Mason, Stewart Maxwell, Joan McAlpine, Liam McArthur, Christina McKelvie, Aileen McLeod, Fiona McLeod, Stuart McMillan, Gil Paterson, Dennis Robertson, Kevin Stewart, Dave Thompson, David Torrance, Jean Urquhart, Bill Walker