PICTURE the scene: you've just woken up on EU election results day. You open Twitter for the latest news. There's a tweet from the BBC Politics account listing all the parties' results. Except ... something's not right ...
Where are the SNP?
Have you woken up in some parallel universe in which Scotland doesn't exist? Was the SNP just a dream all along? You'd be forgiven for making these assumptions.
READ MORE: Sturgeon praises 'historic and spectacular' SNP election victory
The BBC Politics tweet in question, posted this morning, lists results from England and Wales but not Scotland.
#EUElectionResults so far:
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) May 27, 2019
- Brexit Party clear winners
- Lib Dems come second
- Heavy losses for Tories & Labour
- Good night for Greens
- No MEPs for Change UK
- UKIP, winners in 2014, take no seats
Latest: https://t.co/iwUTVwbAa5
Results in graphs: https://t.co/AxvIBNMlk8 pic.twitter.com/QrryyCZMfD
The tweet wasn't the only one of its kind - throughout the results process several journalists posted running totals of the ballots so far which excluded Scotland entirely.
Yes, our full result wasn't available until later today, but there was only one local authority still to declare at the time the tweet was posted. It was pretty safe to declare who would likely take their seats in the European Parliament by that point.
Of course, the tweet didn't get off criticism-free. Many people pointed out that a certain party's results had been excluded.
Scotland is completely different. pic.twitter.com/8YrrhFXvIH
— Brian MacIver (@Palayo) May 27, 2019
Absolutely no mention of Scotland. @BBCPolics is a joke
— Lesley Stark #FBPE (@lesleys20) May 27, 2019
What about Scotland?
— Lindsay Allardyce (@daisyglaisy) May 27, 2019
How many times do we need to go through this?
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