THE director of BBC Scotland has admitted that the Scottish version of Question Time can’t afford to tour the country.

Debate Night, as the Scottish incarnation will be named, has already been subject to controversy weeks before it’s due to air, after we revealed that a failed Ukip candidate Billy Mitchell had appeared in the audience for the show’s pilot episode.

Mitchell had already made four appearances on Scottish Question Time episode and was given a platform to go on an anti-SNP rant three out of the four times.

READ MORE: Scottish Question Time bias slammed by BBC's own media review

His latest appearance – his fifth in total on BBC debate shows – sparked a week-long row over how audiences for the show are chosen and whether or not they accurately represent the area in which they are taking place.

But it seems that latter issues will not be a problem for the Scottish version of the show after it was confirmed that … “We just can’t afford to do it is the truth of the matter,” MacKinnon told the Financial Times.

“We’ve always acknowledged that these are relatively challenging sums of money to deliver the kind of range and breadth of content that we have ambitions to deliver,” she added.

The admission raises concerns about whether or not the £32 million annual budget set aside for the new channel – which launches on February 24 – is adequate.

READ MORE: Here is the BBC's response to our Question Time story

“Expectations are high and the budget is low,” said David Hutchison, visiting professor in media policy at Glasgow Caledonian University, told the FT. “There really needs to be more money put into this.”

Neil Blain, communications professor emeritus at Stirling university, added: “It’s a hell of a challenge to build an audience on television at 9pm in the evening [when the flagship hour-long news show The Nine will air].”

Despite these concerns, MacKinnon said she was “very confident” the allocated budget would be enough to deliver what Scottish viewer want.

Addressing the recent controversies, and the perceived bias among some Scots which stretches back to the 2014 independence referendum, MacKinnon said: “Hopefully, even amongst the most cynical and sceptical . . . they will see that there is something here for them.”

The new BBC Scotland channel, which will air daily from midday to midnight, launches on February 24.