It’s a very simple question: what will happen if, as seems highly likely, one of the “candidates” (sic) in your “Prime Ministerial Debates” (sic) uses the platform you have given them to make an attack on Nicola Sturgeon’s plan for a second independence referendum? Because of the rigged nature of the debates, Ms Sturgeon will have no right of reply within the programme, and unlike ITV you don’t appear to have any plans for an interview-based programme afterwards to give excluded parties a chance to respond. So what will you do? Will you immediately tell Boris Johnson to stop speaking or to change the subject? Will you hurriedly clear your schedules afterwards to give Ms Sturgeon the appropriate number of minutes to reply?
This is a question well worth asking, because many years ago ITV were successfully challenged in the Scottish courts after they broadcast an “Ask The Prime Minister” programme featuring Tony Blair in the midst of a Scottish parliamentary by-election. The judge ruled that parts of the programme had been legitimate because they related to Mr Blair’s role as Prime Minister, but that other parts were clearly party political and that other parties had been denied a right of reply of equivalent length and prominence. STV were therefore required to broadcast a programme before the by-election giving remedial time to other parties. If memory serves me right, it was presented by Bernard Ponsonby and featured the likes of Charles Kennedy and John Swinney. So if the SNP are left with no option but to go to the courts, it might be worth placing particular emphasis on the likelihood of Scottish issues being mentioned during the rigged debates.
Oh, and a small hint for the broadcasters: no, the SNP’s participation in separate Scottish debates does not provide the necessary balance, because the Conservatives and Labour will also be included in those Scottish debates. The only thing that can possibly balance out a programme excluding the SNP is an equally prominent programme excluding the Tories and Labour (and also the Liberal Democrats in the case of Sky).
* * *
Do you ever get the feeling you’re being gaslighted? The Guardian claimed yesterday that the BBC were planning to “host a traditional head-to-head debate between the prime minister and Labour leader on 6 December”. How can it be “traditional” when it has never happened before? There has never been a two-way leaders’ debate in the history of British general elections. Never. There were three-way debates in 2010, and multi-party debates in 2015 and 2017 (albeit Theresa May refused to participate in the latter).
* * *
