The BBC has quietly edited an episode of Question Time following a dispute between Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice and host Fiona Bruce over climate change statistics.
The segment, which involved Bruce attempting to correct Tice on the proportion of man-made carbon emissions, was removed from the broadcast version of the programme.
The edit came after Tice challenged the accuracy of information provided by BBC Verify, the broadcaster's fact-checking unit.
During the show, Tice claimed that man-made carbon emissions account for "about three or four per cent" of all emissions.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice
BBC
Bruce intervened, stating that according to Nasa, the figure was around a third.
Tice later said he approached a BBC editor after the show to inform them the statistic was incorrect, and was told the information had come from BBC Verify.
The BBC explained the edit was necessary because "two statistics were compared which were not directly comparable".
A spokesman said "more context would have been needed to explain the two statistics sufficiently".
However, the BBC did not reflect this edit in the version uploaded to its iPlayer service.
The disputed information had reportedly come from BBC Verify, the broadcaster's fact-checking unit launched in 2023.
This is not the first time BBC Verify has faced criticism. Earlier this year, the unit suggested private school fee increases after the Government's VAT raid would not affect parents' educational choices.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:Last November, BBC Verify was involved in controversy over inheritance tax changes affecting farmers, quoting Dan Neidle as an "independent tax expert" before quietly removing that description.
The unit has been accused of making errors and showing political bias.
Tice told The Telegraph: "This is the second time in a matter of months where the presenter has wrongly challenged a Reform representative, and essentially made them look bad."
He referenced a previous incident where Bruce had to correct herself after wrongly challenging Reform chairman Zia Yusuf on asylum seeker statistics.
"They've relied on BBC Verify, which perhaps should be named BBC Guesswork," Tice added.
BBC Verify, which employs 61 people with a combined salary of £3.3million as of 2024, has faced scrutiny from within the corporation.
Fiona Bruce
BBC
Frans Unsworth, the BBC's former news chief, expressed "anxieties" about the unit last November.
She questioned: "What does it say about the rest of the journalism? Is that not true, then?"
A BBC spokesman defended the edit as "normal practice" to improve "audience clarity".
"The statistic came from Nasa, which is a trusted authoritative source on the issue," the spokesperson added.
The IPCC maintains that "human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming".
Experts note that while carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are relatively low, this doesn't equate to low climate impact.
