BBC quietly edits Question Time after ‘making false net zero claim'

Telegraph

09-05-2025

The BBC quietly edited an episode of Question Time after allegedly making a false claim about net zero.
Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, appeared on Thursday night's panel show following his party's sweeping gains in the local elections last week.
During the show, which was recorded before a live audience but broadcast later, he was asked about his party's position on climate change policies, which he said was to 'scrap net stupid zero'.
In the debate, Fiona Bruce, the host, intervened to correct Mr Tice on the proportion of carbon emissions that are man-made.
The MP for Boston and Skegness claimed that it was 'about three or four per cent' of all emissions, to which Bruce said that, according to Nasa, it was around a third.
Mr Tice claimed that he approached a BBC editor after the show to tell them that the statistic was a mistake, and was informed that the information had come from BBC Verify, the broadcaster's fact-checking unit.
The exchange with Bruce was then edited out of the programme but the BBC has not reflected this in the show uploaded to its iPlayer.
The BBC said the segment was edited out because 'two statistics were compared which were not directly comparable' and therefore 'more context would have been needed to explain the two statistics sufficiently'.
'Politically biased'
BBC Verify was launched in 2023, when its purpose was described as 'explaining complex stories in the pursuit of truth'.
But the unit has been accused of making errors and being politically biased.
It comes after Bruce was forced to correct herself on a programme last year after making an intervention during remarks on asylum seekers by Zia Yusuf, the Reform chairman.
He had said that the UK takes more asylum seekers per capita than France, to which she said that France and Germany take more per capita than Britain.
Bruce later said: 'Actually before we move on, I just want to say, Zia, you are right, in fact, that France takes fewer asylum seekers per capita than the United Kingdom. We take more than that, it's important to get that right.'
BBC Verify should be named 'BBC Guesswork'
Mr Tice told The Telegraph: 'This is the second time in a matter of months where the presenter has wrongly challenged a Reform representative, and essentially made them look bad in front of the audience and other panellists.
'They've relied on BBC Verify, which perhaps should be named BBC Guesswork. Clearly Reform wants to be on the programme but if we feel that we're constantly being assailed with false information by the programme-makers, it becomes less attractive.'
He added: 'If BBC Verify is giving duff information on live shows that is regurgitated as fact by presenters, then the BBC is in serious trouble.'
Controversy after controversy
The unit, which as of 2024 employed 61 people with a combined salary of £3.3 million, has been criticised in recent months.
At the beginning of this year, BBC Verify suggested that private school fee increases after the Government's VAT raid will not affect parents' choices around their children's education.
Last November, BBC Verify was involved in a controversy over the reporting of inheritance tax changes affecting farmers, quoting Dan Neidle, the former Labour activist, as an 'independent tax expert' before quietly removing that job description.
A week later, Frans Unsworth, the BBC's former news chief, expressed 'anxieties' over the message that BBC Verify was sending about the corporation's journalism.
She said: 'I think if you want to set your stall out and say what you're about, it's probably a pretty good branding exercise. But my anxieties are… What does it say about the rest of the journalism? Is that not true, then?'