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.’
THIS was the day Chancellor Philip Hammond – dubbed Eeyore because of his habitual pessimism – was transformed into the most optimistic character in the Hundred Acre Wood.
‘I am at my most positively Tigger-like as I contemplate a country which faces the future with unique strengths,’ he told the Commons.
He had plenty to be cheerful about as he outlined the economy’s recent performance and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s upgraded forecasts.
Growth every year since the Tories came to power in 2010… manufacturing enjoying its longest unbroken run of expansion for 50 years… some three million more jobs than eight years ago…
So much for the ‘immediate and profound economic shock’ that Europhiles warned would follow a Brexit vote.
As for the future, the increase in employment is predicted to continue, with real wages rising as inflation dips. And though the OBR remains cautious in its predictions for growth, the newly optimistic Chancellor rightly points out: ‘Forecasts are there to be beaten.’
Most cheering of all, tax receipts from higher-than-expected growth this year mean that for the first time since the financial crisis, the country’s debt is set to fall as a proportion of the nation’s output.
True, we could have reached this milestone years ago if the Coalition had maintained pressure on spending.
But it’s something to celebrate all the same, though any partying in Scotland will have to be more circumspect.
The Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts growth of only 0.7 per cent. Workers in Scotland already face the highest income tax in the land, a headache for the ambitious and for businesses trying to attract the top talent we need so urgently.
It could not be clearer the UK Government understands what makes business tick and how to generate growth. That is in stark contrast with the SNP, forever distracted by constitutional wrangles, which thinks businesses and their staff are a dripping roast to be plundered.
Elsewhere, too, there was much to applaud in the Spring Statement – not least the announcement of plans to force taxdodging digital giants such as Facebook and Google to pay their dues. The Mail particularly welcomes Mr Hammond’s support for our campaign to end the scourge of plastic pollution, as he launches a consultation on recycling, alternative materials and new taxes on offenders.
Two of his proposals, however, should set alarm bells jangling. One is his idea of getting rid of 1p and 2p coins – voters will not thank him when traders inevitably round up all those 99p prices.
As for his crackdown on cash-in-hand payments, with receipts for every transaction, isn’t this a bureaucratic recipe for infuriating small businesses and taxpayers, already fed up with seeing multinational companies offered sweetheart deals by the taxman?
This was a good day for Tigger Hammond. Have we seen the last of Eeyore? WHY has the BBC given such minimal coverage to the revelation that up to 1,000 mostly white teenagers could have been sexually abused by groups of mainly Asian men in Telford, Shropshire?
As with its reluctance to mention damning revelations about Max Mosley, who bankrolls Labour’s deputy leader and the country’s only state-approved Press regulator, is the Corporation uninterested in scandals that don’t fit its agenda? OUT of respect for his ancient office, this paper has avoided commenting on the character of Speaker John Bercow. But with a sticker in his car, proclaiming ‘b ******* to Brexit’, isn’t it hard to imagine how he could undermine the dignity of his office any further?