Lib Dem MP says way figures were compiled on ‘non-British-sounding’ surnames in court was ‘frankly racist’
GB News has been accused of risking inflaming tensions over crime committed by migrants after presenting unscientific research that counted the number of defendants with “foreign-sounding names”.
Ofcom, the UK’s media regulator, has received complaints about a segment on the rightwing news channel last week that drew a link between “non-British” names and those in court charged with sex offences.
The segment was presented by Martin Daubney, sitting in for Nigel Farage on the Reform UK leader’s show on Monday last week. Daubney, a former Brexit party member of the European parliament, introduced what he described as “genuinely shocking” research. It was based on counting the number of “non-British-sounding surnames” at nine crown courts over a six-week period.
He said there was “no doubt the methodology is incomplete” but said this was because the government had refused to release data on the nationality of defendants.
