THE Green Party have submitted a complaint to the BBC after it failed to broadcast the party’s historic election wins during its coverage of the General Election results.
While the BBC devoted large portions of its coverage during the campaign and on election night to Reform UK, the party ended up with just one more seat than the similarly sized Green Party of England and Wales.
However, despite the Green Party vastly improving their representation in Westminster from one seat to four, party leader Carla Denyer’s declaration was not broadcast.
Green Party councillor Nate Higgins has now submitted an official complaint to the BBC, claiming there was “no justification” for appearing to ignore the party’s victories.
“During the coverage of the General Election, the BBC broadcast live the declarations of the leaders of the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrats and Reform UK parties, and their speeches,” he said.
“Inexplicably, neither the declaration in Bristol Central (Carla Denyer) or Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay) were broadcast, despite both being stunning gains for the Green Party’s co-leaders.
NEW 👇 I’ve submitted a complaint to the BBC for failing to broadcast @TheGreenParty’s four successful election declarations. Ignoring @carla_denyer’s gain in Bristol Central and @AdrianRamsay’s gain in Waveney Valley meant they were the only English leaders not to be broadcast pic.twitter.com/MHS34LbzOV
— Nate Higgins (@natehiggins) July 7, 2024
“Their speeches were also not broadcast.
“There is no justification for treating the Green Party differently than every other English party leader.
“Additionally, the win in Bristol Central was simply announced as ‘The Green Party have won Bristol Central. Now let’s go to Iain Duncan Smith’."
He then accused the BBC of “playing down” the impact of Green wins of the political landscape of the UK.
“Additionally, the BBC broadcast the declaration in the safe Labour seat of Brighton Kemptown, but didn’t broadcast the declaration in Brighton Pavilion (which was an interesting seat due to Caroline Lucas stepping down).
“North Herefordshire was also not broadcast.
“This had the effect of playing down the impact and scale of Green wins, and meant there was less air time for Green politicians because their speeches were not broadcast.
“The Green Party had clearly telegraphed their target seats and potential gains so ignorance is not an excuse for not broadcasting any of the declarations of Green MPs.”
It comes after the Scottish Greens also reported gains in the General Election, placing third in a number of seats and gaining more than 13% of the vote in Glasgow South.
The BBC has been contacted for comment.
