This petition was submitted during the 2017-2019 parliament
Rejected petition Stop elected officials taking part in BBC Question Time audiences.
It is now a well known issue that there have been a number of conservative councillors taking part in the BBC Question Time Audiences on various occasions, usually resulting in them coincidentally getting more talk time than a normal member of the public.
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Recently David James, Tory councillor for Castle Douglas, Dumfries, was in the question time audience (he's not been the first), he was allowed a full question, and given more talk time than any other standard member of the public audience, I believe this undermines the impartial and democratic idea of the show and believe any elected official should be banned from taking part in the BBC Question Time audience, in order to allow a level equal playing field.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not directly responsible for.
The BBC is an independent body governed by a Royal Charter. Under the terms of that Charter, the BBC is operationally and editorially independent of government and there is no provision for the government to intervene in the BBC’s day-to-day operations.
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