BBC underneath fireplace after fact-checkers delete false declare backing Labour in farm tax row | Politics | News | EUROtoday

The BBC’s fact-checking service has come underneath scrutiny after it deleted a press release backing Labour’s claims of their inheritance tax raid on farmers.

BBC Verify stated the Government’s figures concerning the variety of farms affected by the coverage have been “likely” to be proper.

But the company has since deleted its backing of the declare that solely 500 farms a yr might be affected by the coverage from its web site amid a bias row after Sir Keir Starmer trumpeted the BBC piece.

Shadow tradition secretary Stuart Andrew advised the Daily Mail: “Taxpayers pay for the BBC to interrogate facts, not mindlessly parrot Government lines.

“These are extremely contested statistics on a coverage which can have a profound impression on costs within the outlets, Britain’s meals safety and rural life.

“Farmers deserve better than the diet of half-truths they are currently being fed by the BBC. The matter should be immediately investigated and corrected.”

The Government has confronted a fierce backlash over proscribing the present 100% inheritance tax reduction for farms to solely the primary £1 million of mixed agricultural and enterprise property.

BBC Verify stated the Country Land and Business Association’s 70,000 determine for the variety of farms affected was “almost certainly an overestimate”.

The service added that the “true” variety of farms affected “is likely to be much closer to the Treasury estimates”.

The BBC stated: “This is an independent factual analysis, quoting a number of different organisations and individuals who have a range of different viewpoints.

“It’s routine for us to replace on-line articles, and we’ll proceed to replace our evaluation of this coverage as extra data and rationalization grow to be out there.

“If the changes are material or change our conclusions, we add a note informing readers, for transparency.”