13 Mar 2023

BBC struggling to cover sports after Lineker stood down

From Morning Report, 7:45 am on 13 March 2023

The BBC is struggling to restore public confidence in its impartiality, after a presenter who criticised proposed immigration policy was stood down.

Former England soccer captain Gary Lineker, the BBC's highest paid presenter and the anchor of the football highlights programme, was taken off-air on Friday.

The suspension came after Lineker took to Twitter to describe proposed legislation banning asylum seekers arriving by boat as a "cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s."

A number of presenters, pundits and athletes have walked out, or refused to take part in programming, in solidarity with Lineker.

UK correspondent Nina-Maria Potts spoke to Corin Dann.