BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg has a new name for Theresa May’s Brexit deal. And people have pointed out how comically biased it is.
‘Barnier’s deal’
MPs are set to vote on May’s withdrawal bill for a fourth time in the week starting 3 June. The agreement has already suffered three huge defeats, including the first and fourth largest in history.
Despite the agreement being the same, Kuenssberg joined in the rebranding of the deal as ‘Michel Barnier’s’ (the EU chief Brexit negotiator):
“Partisan spin”
On social media, people called Kuenssberg out:
It's the "withdrawal agreement", not "Barnier deal". Partisan spin should not be passed off as objective fact by journalists. https://t.co/BhKtEDbdMR
— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) May 15, 2019
Why call it barnier deal? Its TMs deal! Bit of sleight of hand there to infer EU to blame !
— Barry RejoinEU 🇪🇺 (@Urrff) May 15, 2019
Quick let's call it the Barnier deal and the mugs will fall for it. Then we can blame it on the EU.
— scook2003 (@scook2003) May 15, 2019
Now the Tories are calling the "THERESA MAY 2015–2019 TORY DEAL" the Barnier deal! Had it been a great success it would have been the "MAY" deal. How fucking sly are they? Watch the MSM buy into it!
— richard oneill (@silverrich39) May 15, 2019
Kuenssberg was echoing language used by Conservative Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay, who said:
I think if the House of Commons does not approve the [bill] then the Barnier deal is dead in that form and I think the house will have to then address a much more fundamental question between whether it will pursue… a no-deal option or whether it will revoke
Given every EU member state has a veto on the Brexit withdrawal agreement, rebranding it as the “Barnier deal” amounts to inaccurate propaganda. In reality, the deal is essentially a product of the hard-Brexit wing of the Conservative Party, which informed May’s red lines.
As political editor of a supposedly public service broadcaster, Kuenssberg should be holding the government to account and questioning its messaging. Instead, she all too often parrots it. That needs to end.
Featured image via BBC Politics/ Twitter
