Report of Corbyn comments breached BBC rules

THE BBC breached accuracy and impartiality rules with a News At Six report by its political editor Laura Kuenssberg on Jeremy Corbyn’s views on shoot-to-kill, its governing body has ruled.

The Scots-raised journalist’s piece, aired in November 2015, discussed the UK Government’s proposed security measures after the Paris terror attacks.

A viewer complained the use of a comment by the Labour leader misrepresented his views on the use of lethal force and wrongly suggested he was against the Government’s proposed security measures.

Earlier this month, the Herald revealed the BBC Trust had provisionally upheld the complaint.

In the piece, Ms Kuenssberg said she had asked Mr Corbyn if he was prime minister “whether or not he would be happy for British officers to pull the trigger in the event of a Paris-style attack”.

Mr Corbyn was seen to respond: “I’m not happy with a shoot-to-kill policy in general. I think that is quite dangerous and I think can often be counter-productive.” However, the clip of Mr Corbyn was taken from a longer interview.

In the longer interview, she asked: “If we saw the kinds of horror in Paris, here, if you were prime minister, would you order security services on to the street to stop people being killed?”

Mr Corbyn responded: “Of course you’d bring people on to the streets to prevent and ensure there is safety within our society.”

The BBC said Mr Corbyn’s remarks were not taken out of context and he understood the questions.

The trust said there was no deliberate attempt to mislead audiences.