³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

Talk about playing with a straight bat? Well that's what I'm doing here when I report that the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Trust has announced it has not upheld a joint appeal from the SNP and Plaid Cymru on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Prime Ministerial debate scheduled to be broadcast on 29 April.

An ad hoc committee of five Trustees met yesterday to consider the appeal.

You can read their findings in full here but here's an outline of the decision the committee has taken:

"It concluded that the Director-General had not erred in his approach as to which parties to include in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Prime Ministerial debate. Noting the level of past electoral support and the number of candidates standing for the SNP and Plaid Cymru, the Committee concluded that the Director-General's approach to achieving impartiality was appropriate. That is that SNP and Plaid Cymru have not been included in the Prime Ministerial debate programme but in associated and clearly signposted coverage previously agreed by the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.

"It considered that, on the basis that it was within the Director-General's discretion not to include the SNP and Plaid Cymru in the Prime Ministerial debate, it would not have been appropriate to involve the SNP and Plaid Cymru in negotiations surrounding that debate or the agreement of the format. The Committee considered that it was appropriate for the Executive to form the view that it was not in a position to engage with the SNP and Plaid Cymru on their coverage until the detail of the debate itself had been finalised.

"It concluded that the Director-General had not erred in his approval of the Executive's approach to coverage of the SNP and Plaid Cymru surrounding the debate, that the Committee was satisfied with the process adopted and that the approach to coverage of the SNP and Plaid Cymru was reasonable and adequate to maximise the achievement of due impartiality, and within the discretion afforded to the DG to approve as editor-in-chief of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳".

With that news delivered, I'll make my way back to the pavilion.

UPDATE

Plaid's Director of Elections, Helen Mary Jones has issued a response on behalf of the party:

"It is astonishing that the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, an organisation funded by the people of Wales, will not even allow this matter to be presented in an open hearing. For a body which claims that its values are based on being "independent, impartial and honest" we are surprised that this entire process has been held behind closed doors. Having shown complete disregard for Plaid and the democratic process of our nation the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ can no longer claim to be a national broadcaster for Wales".

She goes on to say:

"The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ claims to continuously assess and monitor its election coverage in order to achieve political balance. Therefore it is simply not credible for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Trust to claim that it is not in a position to consider whether the corporation's coverage of Plaid and the SNP has so far been appropriate and proportionate.

In Wales there are 4 parties contesting every seat - and yet 1 of them has been excluded from the network's main election event and most of the surrounding coverage. As a result it's inevitable that Plaid will not be given a fair and proportionate broadcast opportunity in this election.

"We believe that the Trust is now in a position to assess the impact of the first televised debate which was broadcast on ITV and covered by all networks. It is clearly the case that neither the event itself nor the surrounding coverage has resulted in a proportionate opportunity for all 4 parties in Wales or Scotland and yet this fact has been totally disregarded by the Trust."

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