Arlene Foster demands investigation after BBC shows wrong flag for Northern Ireland

DUP reacts to ‘disgraceful’ error in graphic during BBC Breakfast broadcast

BBC Breakfast presenters Jon Kay and Naga Munchetty during Friday’s broadcast. Photograph: BBC screengrab
BBC Breakfast presenters Jon Kay and Naga Munchetty during Friday’s broadcast. Photograph: BBC screengrab

Northern Ireland’s First Minister has demanded an investigation into how the wrong flag was used to represent Northern Ireland on a BBC Breakfast broadcast.

Arlene Foster made the call after the flag of the Republic was used in a graphic illustrating differing travel quarantine restrictions in place in the different UK regions during Friday morning's show.

Ms Foster’s DUP branded the incident “disgraceful”.

At the end of the programme, presenter Naga Munchetty apologised for the error.

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“We would like to apologise for a mistake we made earlier in the programme,” she said.

“In a graphic sequence explaining the differing travel quarantine rules around the nations of the UK we mistakenly showed the wrong flag for Northern Ireland.”

Ms Foster welcomed the apology but urged the BBC’s new director general Tim Davie to establish what went wrong.

She tweeted: “ BBCBreakfast were right to apologise swiftly but the BBC DG needs to investigate the editorial process that allowed the inaccurate graphic to air. Very poor.”

The DUP said one of its MPs, Ian Paisley jnr, had emailed Mr Davie following the error to demand an apology. – PA