Complaint
The bulletin included a report on comments made by Liz Truss during the Conservative Party leadership campaign. A listener objected to the sentence “Liz Truss also admitted she got it wrong by voting Remain in the ECU referendumâ€, which the listener took to imply endorsement by the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ of the Leave position. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½â€™s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
The sentence in question reflected an exchange on that morning’s edition of Today on Radio 4 in which Ms Truss had said, in connection with her support for the Remain campaign, “I was wrong, I was wrong, and I’m prepared to admit I was wrongâ€.  In the context of a report which not about the issue of Brexit but about how Ms Truss’ comments during the leadership campaign reflected on the consistency and robustness of her political beliefs, the wording of the report legitimately reflected what Ms Truss had herself presented as an admission and, in the view of the ECU, carried no implication of endorsement of any position in relation to Brexit by the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.
Not upheld