Report says BBC bias stopped an even bigger vote for Leave

THE BBC invited a third more pro-EU speakers than anti-EU speakers to appear during the election campaign, a report reveals.

A survey of news coverage during the period between May 3 and June 7 found that of 375 contributors, 189 were pro-EU or expressed negative opinions about Brexit.

The report, carried out by media analysts News-watch and commissioned by a cross-party group of Eurosceptic MPs, also claims that BBC correspondents “one-sidedly emphasised the difficulties of Brexit” and “put undue weight on the disadvantages of leaving the EU”. It criticises high-profile figures such as Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political editor, for describing negotiations as “mind-bendingly complicated” and Kamal Ahmed, economics editor, for saying a “squeeze on earnings” was “caused by Brexit”.

It also finds that the “Left-wing arguments for Britain to leave the EU have been scarcely considered on the BBC’s flagship news programmes”, where only one in 500 speakers were Left- wing supporters of leaving the EU. It argues that “had Left-wing arguments for Brexit been properly aired, it is entirely feasible that a greater majority would have voted to Leave”.

During the election period, The Today programme on BBC Radio 4 aired 9 hours of contrent related to Brexit or the EU. Taking account of the number of words spoken by politicians on the programme, those supporting Brexit had almost three times as many words broadcast. The report says this shows their views were “heavily scrutinised”.

In a letter sent to Sir David Clementi, the chairman of the BBC, the group said the data showed that the broadcaster had “failed to reflect the view of millions on this great issue of our time, in breach of its charter and guidelines”.

A spokesman for the BBC said: “We do not recognise the allegations made by News-watch and to describe this as a ‘report’ would be a gross overstatement for what is a defective and loaded piece of work. Across the election campaign we provided our audiences with clear and balanced analysis. This is quite simply as an obvious attempt by a lobby group to discredit the BBC.”