BBC is plunged into racism row after it emerges Question Time audience member is far-right Tommy Robinson activist
- Woman said UK has ‘had enough’ of immigration and we should ‘close borders’
- She complained about costs of translating NHS information into other languages
- Guest also appeared in a video at a ‘Free Tommy Robinson’ protest
The BBC has been plunged into a racism row after a Question Time audience member was unmasked as a far-right Tommy Robinson supporter.
Thursday’s edition of the programme was broadcast from Weymouth and saw a woman in the audience claim the UK has ‘had enough’ of immigration.
The woman said Britain is ‘sinking’ because of immigrants and ‘we should completely close our borders’.
She went on to complain about the cost of translating NHS resources into different languages and launched a furious tirade about foreign nationals ‘getting it all for free’.
Panel members and fellow audience members were visibly shocked by her comments.
But questions have now been raised over whether she should have been allowed on the show after a video of her emerged at a ‘Free Tommy Robinson’ demonstration.
The clip of her at the protest shows her draped in a Union Jack flag and screaming at the camera: ‘Tommy was locked up for nothing – for exposing Muslim groups. Free Tommy.’
The BBC has been plunged into a racism row after this Question Time audience member was unmasked as a far-right Tommy Robinson supporter (pictured at #FreeTommy’ protest
Speaking on the show the woman, who claims to live in London, said: ‘Sixty-eight million people now live in England and it’s going up.
‘At what stage does the panel think this country has had enough.
‘We should close the borders, completely close the borders.
‘Because it’s got to the stage now where there’s no education, no schooling, no infrastructure. It’s enough.
‘We are sinking. Surely someone’s got to see common sense and say enough is enough.’
She continued her furious rant by saying: ‘You’ve got people flooding into this country who cannot speak English.’
The woman, who drew gasps from the crowd, said she had been in hospital in London recently and ‘everything was written in a different language’.
She asked furiously: ‘How much is that costing? How much is it for an interpreter?
Thursday’s edition of the programme was broadcast from Weymouth and saw a woman in the audience claim the UK has ‘had enough’ of immigration
The woman’s intervention sparked angry comments online
‘What sort of country is allowing this? You can arrive on a plane, you get free service, you can just carry it on getting it all for free.
‘Why haven’t they got points set up in the hospital and you pay – like you do in every other country you go to?’
When panel member Ash Sarkar began to respond by saying immigrants pump more into the economy than they take out, the guest shouted: ‘Rubbish!’
Ms Sarkar hit back saying: ‘It’s true. Facts don’t get care about your feelings it’s true.’
The journalist then told of how her grandmother was allowed to settle in the UK from abroad because of a labour shortage in the social care sector.
The woman’s intervention sparked angry comments online, with one person posting on Twitter: ‘The BBC has the cheek to dig a rapid Tommy Robinson supporter out of her hole and sell it as providing a ‘balanced view’.’
Another person wrote: ‘There was a time when audience members like this would be cut off very quickly. Now you give them a platform to spout racism. Why?’
Some else commented: ‘What a hateful woman – we need immigrant workers to do the jobs no-one else is prepared to do…’
Another Twitter user branded the Corporation an ‘irresponsible broadcaster’.
MailOnline has contacted the BBC for comment.