Downing Street fury over ‘most biased bulletin ever’ by the BBC
THERESA MAY has gone to war with the BBC, with the Tory Party publicly attacking the Corporation for ‘frankly astounding’ political bias in its Budget coverage.
Downing Street has made a furious complaint to the broadcaster after it led its Radio 4 bulletins with claims from a Left-leaning thinktank that the measures unveiled by Chancellor Philip Hammond would mainly benefit the rich.
One aide called the report on Tuesday’s Today programme ‘the most biased bulletin in history’.
The row erupted after the flagship news show highlighted research by the Resolution Foundation without revealing that its director, Torsten Bell, was head of policy for the former Labour leader Ed Miliband.
The 7am bulletin declared that ‘an independent analysis of the Budget has said that despite moves to end austerity, low and middleincome families face a continued squeeze’. It repeated the claim in its 8am bulletin – but minus the word ‘independent’.
Last night, the Conservative Party issued a damning rebuke to the BBC’s coverage of the £55billion spending boost, which was largely welcomed by the rest of the media.
A spokesman said: ‘It is frankly astounding that on the morning after the Government cut taxes for 32million people, increased the national living wage to help 2.4million low-income earners and invested £1.7billion more in Universal Credit, the BBC chose to lead its coverage on a report from a Left-wing think-tank that claimed only rich people would benefit.
‘The Resolution Foundation report only looked at income tax measures – if you look at the whole package of measures in the Budget, you will see it is those on the lowest incomes who benefit proportionately the most.
‘Even the Shadow Chancellor [John McDonnell] agreed this was a good Budget for low and middleincome earners but not, it seems, the BBC, which gave top billing to some half-baked Left-wing spin’.
Last night the BBC refused to apologise for its coverage, describing the research as ‘the first detailed analysis of the Budget’, which was ‘clearly attributed to the Resolution Foundation’. The contentious bulletins included an analysis by Economics Editor Kamal Ahmed, who this week takes up a promotion to become editorial director of BBC News.
According to the Treasury, the extra £6.6 billion announced by Mr Hammond to plug gaps in the Universal Credit social security system will hand an extra £630 a year to 2.4 million working families. In addition, the threshold at which people will start paying tax will increase from £11,850 to £12,500, while the national living wage will go up by 4.9 per cent to £8.21 an hour.
There were also big spending commitments on defence and roads – in addition to the extra £20 billion a year for the NHS announced by Mrs May earlier this year.
The package was so generous that some Tory MPs think it could even pave the way for a snap general election.
On air, Mr Ahmed disputed that it was an ‘end of austerity’ Budget.
He quoted the Resolution Foundation’s claim that the top 10 per cent of households would gain most – around £410 a year – from tax changes, with poorer households gaining only around £30 a year.
The Resolution Foundation said that it was ‘an independent, nonpartisan think-tank’ and pointed out that its executive chairman is the Conservative peer Lord Willetts.