THE BBC has issued a bizarre response to criticisms over an infographic that misrepresented the SNP's share of the European election vote in Scotland.

The Beeb has now claimed that the graphic was only intended to be a "rough" guide, despite not indicating this anywhere.

The BBC Scotland Twitter account shared out the infographic at around 1.30am, once 31 of Scotland's 32 council areas had declared results.

Here is the #EUElections2019 percentage vote for Scotland, with 31 of 32 council results declared. https://t.co/Fei3ZGACPX pic.twitter.com/KYipeuo6AR — BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) May 27, 2019

It showed the SNP in the lead with 37.9% of the vote share – but the proportional size of the bar on the graph undersold the actual lead the party had.

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The discrepancy was pointed out by Wings Over Scotland on Twitter, who illustrated the inaccuracy.

Not for the first time, the BBC have depicted SNP support as rather less than it really is. 37.9% is 2.57 times 14.7, so the yellow bar should be as long as the three turquoise ones. pic.twitter.com/crDei0mOmi — Wings Over Scotland (@WingsScotland) May 27, 2019

Here's the original BBC graph with four Labour bars (total 37.2) next to the SNP's 37.9. pic.twitter.com/DKudVNfWwM — Wings Over Scotland (@WingsScotland) May 27, 2019

The BBC has now told The National that the graphic was simply a "rough visual indication" of each party's vote share – though this was not indicated in the tweet or on the infographic itself.

A BBC spokesperson said: "As part of our rolling results coverage, we produced a graphic to give a rough visual indication of the state of the parties. This gave the correct percentage figures and contained no horizontal scale.

"Once the full results were declared in Scotland, we produced a full graphic with a clear scale and updated the story."

An updated graphic was published by BBC Scotland as a reply to their original Tweet shortly after this statement was issued.

With all 32 council area results declared, here is the #EUelections2019 final % party vote share for Scotland compared to the last EU election in 2014. pic.twitter.com/IRf0PWtG97 — BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) May 27, 2019

SNP depute leader Keith Brown said: “The BBC needs to get their act together and reflect a true picture of events.

“It is little wonder with misrepresentations like this that they struggle to gain trust with Scottish audiences.”