 | 'Tories, the SNP and Scottish Liberal Democrats were specifically named by the ITC - a fact which infuriated Tommy Sheridan, leader of the Scottish Socialist Party, who recalled that the SSP had 'gubbed' the LibDems in 10 of its last 13
contests.' Murray Ritchie and Robbie Dinwoodie in the Herald, 15 th December 2000 |  |
The programme, Ask the Prime Minister, in which Tony Blair answered questions from a studio audience, was shown on ITV stations across the UK despite protests from opposition parties in Scotland, who complained it gave an unfair advantage to Labour in the final days of the Falkirk contest.
Labour's by-election opponents immediately demanded equal air time and claimed the ruling had major implications for television coverage across Britain of the coming general election.
Scottish Television last night said it would consider its options, including an attempt to seek a judicial review. "Clarification of the content and intent of the direction has been requested from the ITC and a further announcement will be made by Scottish Television once the ITC's response has been received," a spokeswoman said.
The SNP had led calls for the programme not to be shown in Scotland but Scottish Television, owned by SMG, publishers of The Herald, decided to join other ITV stations in screening it. Voters in Falkirk go to the polls on Thursday.
The ITC ruling, which calls into question the station's pre-Christmas schedules, delighted Labour's opponents, especially the SNP, which is waging one of its biggest by-election campaigns in an attempt to snatch the seat formerly held at Westminster by Dennis Canavan.
Sandy Ross, managing director of Scottish Television, said the company believed it had satisfied its obligations as an impartial and balanced broadcaster.
"However, it is simply not clear what is now being asked of us and, until we receive that clarification, we can only reserve our position. We have a duty to consider all courses of action to make sense of these rules."
The ITC noted that Scottish Television was required to carry out "impartial and balanced" coverage of locally relevant issues. But the prime minister's appearance was, it said, a high-profile network programme with party political relevance to Scotland as well as an opportunity by ITV to "hold the prime minister accountable to viewers on government policy."
The ITC directed Scottish Television to provide air time to "relevant" parties in Scotland and to do so at peak air time on or before December 20, which is eve of poll in Falkirk.
Tories, the SNP and Scottish Liberal Democrats were specifically named by the ITC - a fact which infuriated Tommy Sheridan, leader of the Scottish Socialist Party, who recalled that the SSP had "gubbed" the LibDems in 10 of its last 13 contests. The SSP was last night taking counsel's advice.
John Swinney, SNP leader, claimed the ruling had sparked the Falkirk West contest to life with days to go and said: "This is a vindication of the SNP's position and the principled complaint that we made to the Independent Television Commission.
"Tony Blair spent 70% of his time on Ask the Prime Minister discussing matters that have been devolved to Scotland, and are no longer under his control north of the border. The proposed leadership debates between Blair, Hague and Kennedy would be exactly the same, which is why there will have to be a fundamental rethink of these debates by both ITV and the BBC before they can be broadcast in Scotland."
Raymond Robertson, Scottish Tory chairman, said: "The ITC has ruled that political coverage by broadcasters must be fair and that this week's dodgy deal between the Labour party and ITV gave the Labour party an unfair advantage just one week before an important by-election."
On the Falkirk hustings, Labour and the SNP yesterday clashed over taxation.
SNP candidate David Kerr claimed that, over the three years since Labour came to power at Westminster, a series of tax increases have added more than £1000 to the bill of the average Falkirk earner.
But Labour candidate Eric Joyce, who was accompanied by Helen Liddell, the energy minister, on the campaign trail, accused the SNP of failing to spell out their own tax plans. "Seven days to go to polling day, and David Kerr still won't tell local pensioners or anyone else how much more tax his party will make them pay," he said.
-Dec 15th
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