Lineker should never have been taken off air
Gary Lineker should never have been taken off air for saying what many believe to be the truth about the Home Office’s terrible treatment of refugees, say the Scottish Greens.
This comes after the BBC has announced that it is reinstating Lineker following his removal over Tweets against the Home Office’s racist anti-refugee policies.
The Party’s culture spokesperson, Mark Ruskell MSP said:
"It's a relief that Gary Lineker has been reinstated after saying what many of us believe to be the truth, which is that the UK government has behaved absolutely abysmally over its treatment of refugees.
"This should never have happened in the first place. He should never have been forced off air. The UK government’s policies are brutal and racist and there is nothing wrong with a host saying that, especially when so many other BBC hosts are outspoken about their views and have faced no sanction.
"The BBC is meant to speak truth and hold power to account. It is alarming that all of this is coming at the same time as the Corporation is also being accused of censoring David Attenborough’s film about the scale of the environmental crisis.
"The BBC has got a lot of work to do now to build back its credibility. This will be particularly difficult when it has a Chairman who is mired in controversy and linked to Tory donations and loans to Boris Johnson. The right thing now would be for Richard Sharp to resign.”