Green Party leader Zack Polanski will be given an in-depth interview on the Laura Kuenssberg show after supporters accused the BBC of bias against the party.
The Greens complained after a planned interview with its new leader Polanski from the party’s conference was cancelled in the days before Kuenssberg’s Sunday show on 5 October.
The BBC said it needed to devote more time to coverage of the Manchester synagogue attack.
Polanski complained on X at the time: “I’m Jewish. I’m also Mancunian. Every other national party leader was interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg during their conference. Maybe the BBC thought as someone who also support Palestine – I had nothing to say?”
The party expressed frustration that Polanski had yet to be granted the BBC flagship politics show interview usually awarded to new party leaders, following his election in early September.
Responding to complaints from viewers who said they were “unhappy” that Polanski’s appearance had been pulled, the BBC said: “Zack Polanski and the Greens have not been denied the opportunity to appear on the programme but rather have been offered a chance to do the show on a date when they will be given more time.”
The broadcaster added that “severe time constraints” had forced the original interview to be cancelled and Polanski has “accepted the invitation to do an interview” on this Sunday’s programme.
The BBC added the original cancellation was “because there were overlapping party conferences (it was the Conservative conference that week as well) and the breaking news of the synagogue attack in Manchester.
“The programme team felt that there was not enough time to do an in-depth interview with Mr Polanski and so instead offered him an opportunity to do an interview on next week’s show where there will be more time and space to discuss Green party policies.”
The BBC also denied any claims of anti-Green bias, adding: “We’d also note Mr Polanski has already done several BBC interviews in response to the Manchester attacks including Politics Live on the 2nd October where he discussed the Manchester synagogue attack. Mr Polanski also appeared on Today on the 3rd October.”
Caption: Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch was interviewed on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on the 5 October programme (Source: PA)The Green Party says it now had more than 100,000 members, citing a surge since Polanski’s election on a platform outflanking Labour of the left, putting it ahead of the Liberal Democrats’ figure of 83,000.
The party, which is hovering at about 11 per cent in the polls, is pushing for Polanski to receive comparable airtime to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey.
Polanski was approached for comment.
The BBC last month faced renewed pressure over the amount of coverage it gives Reform UK after an analysis showed Farage’s party featured in a quarter of all News At Ten bulletins over six months.
The Cardiff University study found that Reform featured in 49 bulletins between January and July this year, whereas the Liberal Democrats – the third party in parliament with 72 MPs – featured in 17.9 per cent of bulletins, with 35 references.
However the research also debunked claims that Farage was given more airtime on BBC political programmes like Question Time than other politicians.
The academics found that Reform’s head of policy Zia Yusuf was a more regular guest than Farage and that Health Secretary Wes Streeting and shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp racked up the most TV interviews.
The BBC said it based its airtime decisions on an assessment of “current electoral support”.
The broadcaster noted that “traditional voting patterns across Britain have been shifting, providing a challenge to established political parties” and that Reform had won four million votes at the 2024 general election, more than the Lib Dems.
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