Complaint
The greater part of the programme was taken up by an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, ahead of the Budget. Two viewers complained that Laura Kuenssberg had shown bias towards the Government’s position, by failing to challenge the Chancellor adequately and by attributing the level of the UK’s debt to external factors. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the ±«Óãtv’s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
Ms Kuenssberg mentioned the pandemic and the war in Ukraine as factors affecting UK debt, but she also mentioned “Liz Truss’s adventures with the financial marketsâ€, and it appeared to the ECU that she was clearing the ground to ask the Chancellor about areas for which he and his Government might themselves be responsible and whether or not they were doing enough to tackle the issue. In that respect, as in others, the ECU regarded the interview as appropriately challenging.
Not upheld