Summary of complaint
We received complaints from people who felt Fiona Bruce displayed bias against the Scottish National Party’s Kate Forbes MSP, deputy first minister of Scotland.
Our response
As chair, Fiona Bruce’s role is to facilitate a lively discussion where a range of voices can be heard. When Fiona challenges or presses a panellist on a view they have expressed or a statement they have made, this is not indicative of bias. It is done to ensure that a question is answered or a point clarified.
All of the panellists – who represented a wide range of political views - got a fair hearing on the matters raised across the programme. We believe that Fiona treated every member of the panel even-handedly, interrupting them all at various points when it was necessary to keep the discussion on track, or when she felt they weren’t responding to audience questions.