Responding to a formal complaint from Reform UK over their exclusion from a Welsh leaders’ debate, OFCOM has acknowledged “substantive issues” have been raised over the corporation’s treatment of the party, and are to urgently convene an election committee ahead of Thursday’s vote. Responding to the move, Richard Tice says:

“It is clear that the BBC has never forgiven us for winning the last European elections and forcing the Government to act on Brexit. Ignoring the strength of support that we have had cannot have been an accident but a monumental, and anti-democratic act of spite”.

OFCOM will not only be urgently convening the committee to adjudicate on any BBC bias, they are expediting the process given the severity:

“We consider that the Complaint raises substantive issues under the Broadcasting Code that, if upheld, might require redress before the elections on 6 May 2021. Further, and as we stated in our letter dated 19 April 2021, we recognise the very close proximity of the Leaders’ Debate to the election due to take place next week, and will be expediting our usual procedure for assessing standards complaints under the Code. The Election Committee will therefore be convened to determine this Complaint as a matter of urgency.”

Given the election is on Thursday the blatant bias is unlikely to be rectified in time…