FEARS were raised last night that the BBC is now consigning SNP representatives to Scottish-based programmes, despite its new status as the third-largest political party in the UK.

Before the General Election on May 7, the Liberal Democrats were regular members of the panel on the BBC’s leading political programme Question Time when they were the third-biggest party. However, last night was the second time the SNP did not feature.

When The National contacted Question Time’s press office prior to the programme being screened across the UK last night to ask why the SNP were not represented for the second week in a row, it responded: “You do know it’s in Derby this week?” and then added: “It will be coming up to Scotland soon.”

In an official statement, the BBC responded: “The Question Time panel varies from week to week to ensure a broad range of views are represented and the SNP will feature on the programme in the coming weeks.”

When asked when the SNP would be on the show, a spokeswoman responded: “We don’t announce panellists until the day before a show goes to air. We don’t have more to add.”

The National understands that in the aftermath of the General Election senior SNP special advisers wrote to the BBC, ITV News and Sky news to make the point that the party, with its newly elected army of MPs, must be included in day-to-day political coverage and issues, reflecting the party’s position as the third-largest party in the UK.

The SNP are now expected to seek a meeting with BBC chiefs.

Shadow leader of the House of Commons, Pete Wishart, said: “Just as David Cameron needs to learn it is no longer business as usual, so too does the BBC.”

Last night’s panel in Derby was made up of Tory Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan, LibDem South Lakes MP Tim Farron, Labour’s Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy, left-wing columnist Owen Jones and former Dragons’ Den businesswoman Hilary Devey.

In Uxbridge last week were Ukip leader Nigel Farage, Tory Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt MP, Labour’s shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt MP, musician Brian May and Economist editor Zanny Minton Beddoes.

An SNP source told The National: “The politics of the UK as well as Scotland changed in a very significant way on May 7.

“The network broadcasters have an obligation to their viewers both north and south of the Border to reflect this new reality across their output.”

A party spokesman confirmed: “We have regular contact with programmes about SNP representation.”

Former Glasgow and Stirling university professor of sociology David Miller, who is now based at Bath University, insisted the BBC must now “rethink how they are handling the SNP”.

He said: “The criticism of the BBC during the referendum campaign with mass demonstrations over its bias reflected the deep-seated view across Scotland that the BBC doesn’t properly understand constitutional issues and therefore understand how either to portray Scotland to Scots or to portray the role of Scotland to the UK. I think that is pretty clear.

“We have crossed a bridge here where we have moved from the SNP being a minor party at the UK level to being a major party at UK level.

“The LibDems have got practically no seats left, yet they still manage to get on Question Time, that is the lunacy of it. The BBC understands this point in the abstract because otherwise they wouldn’t have Nigel Farage on.

“It has been a long, painful process for the BBC, they didn’t understand how to represent the referendum in Scotland or at UK level, they clearly don’t understand what has now happened, the protocol enormity of it all, so they need to properly reflect the views of the electorate of the country.”

Ewan Crawford, a lecturer in journalism at the University of the West of Scotland, said: “This is symptomatic of the fact that the BBC at a network level has not actually come to terms with the reality of what it’s reporting. It is not just Question Time, it is the entire structure of so-called news and current affairs that has to change, that to me is the fundamental point that has been shown up by these programmes.”

The King report was published in June 2008 after an investigation commissioned by the broadcaster’s governing body, the BBC Trust, found its news and current affairs coverage did not reflect the transformation that has taken place since devolution.

The report includes an independent assessment by Professor Anthony King of the University of Essex in which he stated the BBC was “not reporting the new UK with the range, clarity and richness that might reasonably be expected”.

Since then the BBC claims it has taken a number of steps to put things right.

Crawford added: “In terms of the spirit of the King report, which is that the BBC has to reflect what’s happening across the UK, this is yet again an example of how this is not happening.”