BBC under fire over its coverage

MPs from across the political divide yesterday accused the BBC of failing to cover the Telford scandal adequately.

Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham, and Lucy Allan, Tory MP for Telford, both attacked the broadcaster over the story, which has featured prominently in newspapers since the weekend.

One paper claimed that up to 1,000 vulnerable mainly white teenagers in Telford could have been targeted by ‘ groups of mainly Asian men’ since 1980.

Miss Allan said in a tweet that the BBC was ‘not strong on standing up for white working class’.

Miss Champion, whose Rotherham constituency suffered a child sex abuse scandal, condemned both the BBC and ITV for their failure to devote enough screen time to the story.

A BBC spokesman said: ‘It is incorrect to suggest that the BBC has ignored this story, which has been covered widely across our output for two days.’