UK Edition
Green Party complains over ‘BBC failure to show its election wins’
Democracy and citizen engagement spokesman says none of its four victories were broadcast live by corporation
The Green Party has complained to the BBC after claiming the broadcaster did not cover any of its victory declarations at the general election.
Four Green candidates won on Thursday, with Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay victorious in Bristol Central and Waveney Valley. The party also held Brighton Pavilion, formerly represented by Caroline Lucas, while gaining North Herefordshire from the Conservatives.
But Nate Higgins, the Greens’ democracy and citizen engagement spokesman, said none of the victories were broadcast live by the BBC, prompting him to launch a formal complaint.
The complaint said: “During the coverage of the general election, the BBC broadcast live the declarations of the leaders of the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Reform UK parties and their speeches.
“Inexplicably, neither the declaration in Bristol Central (Carla Denyer) nor Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay) were broadcast, despite both being stunning gains for the Green Party’s co-leaders. Their speeches were also not broadcast.
“There is no justification for treating the Green Party differently than every other English party leader.”
The Greens were the fifth-largest party by popular vote, winning 1.9 million votes compared to the Liberal Democrats’ 3.5 million and Reform’s 4.1 million.
Mr Higgins went on to claim it was “tone deaf” for the BBC to announce that the Greens had won in Bristol Central and then cut to an interview with Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader.
“This has the effect of playing down the impact and scale of Green wins, and meant there was less airtime for Green politicians because their speeches were not broadcast,” he said.
“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.”
The complaint comes despite Ms Denyer having been interviewed about the gains her party had made during the BBC’s election night coverage.
Since his election in Waveney Valley, Mr Ramsay has vowed to oppose net zero plans backed by the Government to build pylons in Suffolk to transport offshore wind power.
The Greens have urged Britain to move to net zero even faster than Labour, and benefited at the ballot box from anger at Sir Keir Starmer’s party over its stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
The BBC was contacted for comment.