Complaint
The leader of the Scottish Family Party, Richard Lucas, complained that he had been unfairly treated in an interview shown in both programmes; similar interviews with representatives of Reform UK and Alba had been “challenging but fairâ€, whereas his had been “a mud-slinging hit pieceâ€, in which he had been given insufficient opportunity to respond to numerous allegations.  The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
The presenter began with an open question which allowed Mr Lucas to set out his party’s key message uninterrupted. The questioning which followed, like that in the other interviews cited by Mr Lucas, was robustly challenging in the way viewers would expect of a political interview in a news programme during an election campaign, and he was allowed appropriate opportunities for response. The ECU saw no evidence of bias against Mr Lucas’ viewpoint.
Not upheld