The BBC has been caught repeatedly pushing outright fake news this evening about Labour’s Brexit position and the views of the party’s membership this evening.

A narrative piece on the state of Theresa May’s scramble for support for her Brexit agreement, her begging to the EU for meaningful concessions and the relative positions of the parties included a claim by the BBC that the party’s membership is at odds with its leadership:

The BBC News piece is more than merely misleading

That claim is completely false. It’s true that the YouGov poll to which the piece is referring suggests many Labour members would like a new referendum – although the poll’s question on the issue has been criticised as leading respondents to a particular answer.

However, it is entirely untrue that polls indicate that members want Corbyn and his team “to commit to another referendum” – in fact, the YouGov poll states clearly that far more members think the party’s current stance is the right one:

The fake news piece is being repeated at least hourly on the BBC’s news channel. The BBC has been contacted for comment.

The Guardian published almost identically misleading news about the same poll just three days ago.

SKWAWKBOX comment:

The BBC has been running workshops for schoolchildren around the country, teaching them how to ‘spot fake news’. The ‘mainstream’ media is this country’s primary source of it, but it’s unlikely that features in the ‘training’.



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