Home Office makes change to Twitter post on migrant bill after BBC complaint

The Home Office has made a change to one of its own Twitter posts on the Illegal Migration Bill to remove an image of news presenter Huw Edwards after the BBC complained about the use of its footage.

The Government department posted a video explaining the migrant policy on Twitter on Tuesday.

It opens with a clip of Edwards in the BBC News studio saying: “At least 430 migrants crossed the English channel to the UK yesterday.”

It is understood that the accompanying thumbnail originally showed an image of Edwards.

The BBC asked the Home Office to remove the footage.

A BBC spokesperson said on Sunday: “We contacted the Home Office last week to object to their use of BBC footage and asked them to remove it.”

Edwards still features in the video.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Showing news reports to set out context is common practice, it does not imply support for the Bill.

“When we were informed that an automatically generated thumbnail displayed a newsreader, we immediately updated it.”

The three-minute video also features clips from Channel 5 News, interviews with immigration enforcement officers and the former MEP Steven Woolfe who is now director of a migration research think tank.

It ends with comments from Home Secretary Suella Braverman, explaining why the Government is introducing the Bill.