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the Tories have reacted furiously after they accused the BBC of rank double standards over Rachel Reeves’ economic woes.

The main BBC News channel is refusing to cover the crisis in government borrowing costs, or the tanking value of sterling, in its hourly bulletins.

Instead the taxpayer-funded corporation is focussing on a number of stories from the United States.

The fires in Los Angeles have led the hourly bulletins for much of the day, as has the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter.

At both the 12pm bulletins and the 1pm bulletins, the economy was not mentioned, with the BBC instead covering the NHS, new Mohamed Al-Fayed allegations, and the weather.

Conservative MP Saqib Bhatti, the party’s shadow culture minister, told the Express he expects to see a change of editorial policy from the BBC very quickly.

He blasted: “When the Conservatives were in government the BBC never missed an opportunity to cover a headline which was against the government nor indeed when they wanted to speak against Brexit.”

“Now that Rachel Reeves has undermined the economy and sent our bond markets spiralling the BBC – just like the Chancellor – is missing in action.

“License fee payers want to know if Rachel Reeves has sent their mortgages skyrocketing. I hope the BBC will step up and cover the issues that matter.”

The Express understands the Tories are now considering a former complaint to the BBC over its lack coverage, with a source saying the party is considering all options.

The BBC News channel spent six minutes discussing the falling value of the pound just before 1pm, however chief economics correspondent Dharshini David argued the current issues are being fuelled by international factors such as President Trump.

Ms David told viewers: “We’re talking about stagnant growth in the UK over the latter half of 2024. Are things looking any better for 2025? Actually they are a bit, but you wouldn’t know that looking at the market reaction.”

She also informed viewers that concerns about public finances in Britain are “echoed over in places like France… if you look at Europe, you look at France, you look at Germany, those are the real areas of concern for investors.”

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has also taken aim at the BBC, after Rachel Reeves drove government borrowing costs higher than they were after her mini-budget in 2022.

At the time Ms Truss was accused of ‘crashing the economy’ by Labour, largely because of a fall in the pound and a spike in gilt yields.

Last night the former premier took aim at Newsnight, who while covering the rise in borrowing costs showed a chart with the spike alongside the US borrowing costs for comparison, making the crisis appear less sever than it is.

She fumed: “Anyone who looks at the coverage of the 2022 LDI crisis and the fallout of Reeves 2024 Budget can see Britain has a major problem with the legacy media.”

“It’s part of the reason we are in such a mess.

“The truth is distorted and suppressed.”

Ms Truss also shared a post from former Conservative parliamentary candidate Aaron Rankin, who accused Newsnight of “trying to underplay The Treasury’s market intervention under this Labour government, caused by their own fiscal policies, by looking at external factors”.

He added: “Exactly like what they didn’t do when they & the rest of the media created a feeding frenzy when Liz Truss announced her pro-growth policies while ignoring the dollar strengthening event & the LDI crisis that week.”

The BBC was approached for comment.



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