Summary of complaint
Some viewers were unhappy that the Brexit Special edition of Question Time featured an audience comprised of people who voted to leave the EU.
Our response
The Brexit Special marked seven years since the referendum. Although we heard, regularly, a wide range of views over many prior editions of Question Time, we believe it was valuable to reflect on how the views of those who supported Brexit have evolved since then.
As Fiona Bruce said in the introduction, while the audience was comprised solely of leave voters, their political loyalties broadly reflected the electoral map in England. She also explained that approximately 70% of the audience in the studio still believe Brexit was the right thing to do, with 20% now against in some way. This breakdown is in line with consistent and sustained polling of leave voters. The team worked closely with Professor Sir John Curtice, who is widely acknowledged as one of the country’s leading experts on public opinion and polling data, on the make-up of the audience.
The panellists represented those both for and against Brexit, and with different political allegiances, such as John Redwood MP, Alastair Campbell, Jenny Chapman MP and Ben Habib. They and the audience in Clacton debated the impact Brexit has had so far, with a variety of opinions expressed, both positive and negative. At one point, Fiona sought out audience members who had changed their mind since the vote, to ensure a full range of views was heard. Β
Question Time has previously hosted specials dedicated to discussing a particular topic which divides opinion, such as last year’s covid debate with audience members who had declined the vaccine. The show always aims to facilitate a lively debate with a range of viewpoints and will continue to explore views across the breadth of the Brexit debate over time.