Scotland denied own BBC news

THE BBC faced its biggest internal dispute for years yesterday when it indicated that despite years of lobbying, BBC Scotland is to be denied its own six o'clock news bulletin.

Tension has been growing for weeks over the fate of the "Scottish Six", as it is known - with BBC Scotland demanding that the establishment of the Scottish parliament should be the catalyst for devolution within broadcasting. But the BBC's board of governors met this week, and rejected Scottish claims that its 6pm news should be presented from a Glasgow studio, with more Scottish correspondents reporting national and international news.

The issue has become a huge political controversy in Scotland, and the Scottish National Party expressed its disgust at the BBC's stance. "This is an appalling decision for Scottish broadcasting and for Scotland," the SNP MP Roseanna Cunningham said. "The decision is, in effect, a vote of no-confidence in Scottish-based BBC staff and a kick in the teeth for the audience."

The Labour Party has lobbied against the Scottish Six, fearing that the devolution of the BBC could encourage a move towards Scottish independence. "There has been a strong lobby from New Labour ministers, including George Robertson and Helen Liddell," Ms Cunningham said.

The decision "proves without a shadow of a doubt that New Labour's control- freak tendency is now the supreme authority for UK institutions, and that for New Labour devolution is only tolerable within the most strictly controlled limits"," she said.

Professor Lindsay Paterson, of the University of Edinburgh, last night resigned from the BBC's Broadcasting Council for Scotland in protest. The governors' decision, he said, indicated "the consultation process has been a charade".

He joined the SNP call to have the powers of the Scottish Parliament extended at the first opportunity, to give it a remit over broadcasting regulation in Scotland.

The decision was equally unpopular among journalists at BBC Scotland's Glasgow newsroom, due to a commonly held view that a London-oriented BBC simply does not trust Scotland to put out a professional news bulletin and avoid parochialism.

The BBC governors' approach, according to a BBC statement, is to introduce more news from the national regions in the UK-wide six o'clock news. It should give "a comprehensive daily account of developments across the UK, reporting on not one but four democratic institutions, and a full service of international news".

But the idea of the national news giving large amounts of time not only to Westminster politics, but also to the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly, produced groans of dismay in the newsroom.

"It will simply be too boring for audiences to tolerate," insiders said.

Professor Paterson said that he did not see why English audiences should be subjected to the minutiae of Scottish politics, any more than Scottish audiences have been subjected to large amounts of English domestic news until now.

The row, however, is not over. The governors will make a final decision in December.