THE BBC has been panned after billing an exclusively English focus group as “Britain in a room”.

Laura Kuenssberg featured a focus group on her Sunday morning news show made up of voters from the so-called Red Wall in the north west of England.

All participants were from seats in the Greater Manchester area which had voted Conservative in 2019 after previously voting for the Labour Party – but Kuenssberg insisted they represented the “full gamut of views” in Britain.

The suggestion was criticised on social media with one viewer branding the exercise a “waste of time”.

Introducing the segment, Kuenssberg (below) said: “Let’s hear what people had to say then, because politics is of course is about serving the public. Getting things done on your behalf.

The National: Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

"And we wanted to spend one of our Sundays together really delving into what’s on voters’ minds. And with the help of Luke [Tryl’s] research group [More in Common], we invited nearly 50 voters from seats that went from red to blue at the last General Election to give us their verdict.

“It’s not scientific but the groups were carefully selected to represent the full gamut of views: loyal Tories; faithful Labour voters; Conservatives who planned to switch to Labour; those interested in the smaller parties, whether the LibDems, Greens or Reform UK; and those all-important undecided voters, whose ballots are still up for grabs.

“So, watch and listen […] here, for you, is a taste of Britain in a room.”

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Responding to a tweet previewing the show, which also featured the phrase “Britain in a room”, one person said: “'Imagine Britain in a Room’ with no Scottish voters, no SNP, no Northern Ireland, no Welsh voters or Plaid Cymru.

“Hardly Britain is it? All participants are only from 6 constituencies around Greater Manchester. Waste of time.”

Another said: “It’s 50 English voters. ENGLAND in a room.

“No representation from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

“That’s where voting for the Union gets you. Ignored and side-lined completely.”

Another added: “Why is this just about England?”

The focus group was drawn together by the research group More in Common which said its selections “broadly represent the different changes in voting behaviour over the course of the current parliament”.

It added: “More in Common used independent recruiters across the six areas to select participants. All participants went through a two-part screening process before being confirmed as participants.

“Participants were not selected on the basis that they volunteered to talk about politics and only told the subject matter in the second screening.”

The BBC was approached for comment.