Scots Tory leader accuses BBC of bias over interview

DOUGLAS ROSS has accused the BBC of bias after he was not allowed to pre-record a TV interview so he could look after his two infant children, but SNP ministers were permitted to do so.

The Scots Tory leader said the broadcaster’s flagship political programme The Sunday Show refused to arrange an interview after his party conference to take into account his police officer wife starting work at 7am.

He said the programme had previously allowed the SNP’S Humza Yousaf and Kate Forbes to pre-record their interviews.

Mr Ross accused the BBC of forcing him to “choose between my family or their interview”, but it was an “easy decision” as a husband and father to pick the former.

The Sunday Show is broadcast live at 10am on BBC One Scotland and usually features interviews with Scotland’s political party leaders on the weekends of their respective party conferences.

The main interview this Sunday was instead with Shona Robison, the SNP Deputy First Minister. Host Martin Geissler told the audience Mr Ross was “unavailable due to child care issues” and no other senior representative of the party was made available. But he made no reference to the BBC refusing to pre-record the interview.

In a statement on Twitter, Mr Ross said: “I had hoped, given these family commitments, the BBC would have been flexible in their approach.”

He concluded: “This decision by the BBC suggests we still have some way to go to ensure people understand the family pressures of balancing being a politician and a parent.”

A BBC spokesman said: “The Sunday Show always conducts party conference interviews on the day of transmission, although we are flexible about location and time.

“In the interests of fairness and consistency we made this offer to Mr Ross or another representative from the Scottish Conservatives but that offer was not accepted.”