The Politics Live panel is made up of politicians and commentators, and changes daily.  In line with the BBC Editorial Guidelines, viewers would expect each panel to be politically diverse and for a wide “breadth and diversity of opinion” to be reflected over the series.  On the day in question, the programme featured Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts, Conservative MP Ben Bradley and journalists Alys Denby and Sonia Sodha.  They discussed a number of issues including China, harmful online content and the England vs Wales World Cup match, as well as the right of the UK nations to hold independence referenda.  The previous week the Supreme Court had ruled such a referendum required the consent of the UK government – something Liz Saville Roberts had called a “denial of democracy”.

Whilst the panel did discuss the legitimacy of the SNP’s campaign for another referendum,  the ECU noted it touched only once on the SNP’s record of government in Scotland, a debate swiftly cut off by the presenter on the basis the SNP was not present to defend its record.  Three of the four panellists argued against the need for a referendum in either Wales or Scotland, but the ECU concluded Ms Saville Roberts was entirely capable of defending the position of the nationalist parties.  In the context of a daily political programme discussing a range of issues there was no necessity to invite an SNP representative onto the panel for due impartiality to be achieved.
Not Upheld