THE first panel has been revealed for Debate Night – the Scottish version of Question Time to be launched on the new BBC Scotland channel.
Of course, given that this show is about Scottish politics, it can't make the familiar Question Time error of entirely omitting Scottish politicians.
And, in fact, more scrutiny is likely to be on the audience than the panel itself.
But, for the first time, we can tell you who the guests will be on the show – which will be broadcast from Edinburgh (always, due to budget constraints).
We have:
- John Swinney, SNP MSP and deputy first minister
- Monica Lennon, Labour MSP and shadow secretary for health and sport
- Murdo Fraser, Tory MSP and finance spokesperson
- Poet Jenny Lindsay
- Entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter
The first panel for our first episode of Debate Night. With @JohnSwinney, @MonicaLennon7, @SirTomhunter, @murdo_fraser and @msjlindsay.
— BBC Debate Night (@bbcdebatenight) February 22, 2019
Next Wed on the new BBC Scotland channel #bbcdn https://t.co/aF7H6TG7Bg pic.twitter.com/fzDWIc52TT
Jenny Lindsay was an active member of National Collective prior to the independence referendum – a group made up of people in the creative industries backing a Yes vote.
Sir Tom Hunter did not make his position publically known ahead of the independence referendum. However, in 2016 he questioned the SNP policy of being pro-independence and pro-EU.
He said: “[With Brexit], there’s enough uncertainty for us all to deal with. I can’t quite understand why the government wants to take us out of one union which is our biggest trading union but keep us in another one.
“I really do think it would be the wrong thing to bring up another independence referendum at this point. I’m not saying never, just not now.”
We'll find out his 2019 views on Wednesday, February 27, when the show airs for the first time.
With an odd number of panellists, we can't expect it to be perfectly balanced every week, but we'll all be keeping an eye on the long-term trends, of course.
We can only hope it does better than the UK Question Time (the bar is low) – and wish it the best of luck in representing Scotland's views accurately.
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