The BBC has responded to complaints about a ‘racist’ rant shown on Question Time and their social media channels.

A clip of an audience member went viral last week after she was filmed arguing that Britain should ‘completely close its borders’ to stop people ‘flooding in…who can’t speak English’.

Question Time is pre-recorded in one take, and some viewers argued her rant should not have been aired.

The BBC then drew more complaints after the video, described as an ‘unhinged, factually inaccurate and racist rant’, was shared on their social media without the misinformation corrected.

In a statement shared, the BBC said they look for ‘a range of opinions and views on every topic’, adding that it was ‘therefore inevitable’ that viewers would disagree with some comments.

They said the programme had ‘included a debate about immigration which featured a broad range of views from the audience members and panellists’.

The statement continued: ‘After the audience member in question finished speaking, Fiona offered the panel the opportunity to respond to the points raised.

‘Ash Sarkar strongly refuted the audience member’s claims before the debate continued and we heard from other members of the panel and our audience on this issue.

‘We recognise that some of our viewers would have preferred that Fiona interrupted this particular audience member more quickly but we are satisfied that in the generality of the debate we ensured that different perspectives and viewpoints were heard.

‘As a programme we are a forum for discussion and therefore never take a view on the comments made by our panellists or audience members.

‘We do want to assure you, however, that all content that we publish adheres to the BBC’s editorial and legal guidelines.’

The statement then referenced the tweet shared on the BBC’s social media account and said five different clips of people, including two other audience members, had been posted altogether.

It continued: ‘We note that some of these posts have also been widely discussed and shared in keeping with our core obligation around ensuring that our audiences on social and digital as well as television and radio get a balanced summary of the debate in question.’

The woman, who went viral on February 21, the day after Question Time, had declared that Britain is ‘sinking’ due to the volume of migrants coming to live here.

She accused migrants of being a drain on the National Health Service, and called for the UK to completely close its borders.

Left-wing commentator Ms Sarkar was then left to respond to the rant, telling the woman that figures show migrants ‘contribute more in tax than they take out of the system’.

She added: ‘Migrants, particularly when they are young, they are working age, they are contributing to the private sector through the form of paying rent, through paying for their cost of living in this country and also contributing to this country through taxes.’

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