Harriet Cross MP has accused senior figures at STV of a cowardly attack on staff based in Northern Scotland, following revelations from the trade union that voluntary redundancy applications cover less than half of the proposed job cuts.
Her criticism was made after the Scottish Affairs Committee in Westminster, where executives claimed STV North was outperforming its targets by attracting an audience share of 41% — the highest for any mainland Channel 3 regional news programme in the UK.
Despite plans to axe the North programme, STV chief executive Rufus Radcliffe admitted he did not know the viewership difference between the North programme and Central bulletin aired from Glasgow. Of the 60 redundancies announced by STV, approximately 30 are expected to affect the North news programme, leaving just seven staff members north of the central belt.
During the committee meeting, NUJ national organiser Nick McGowan-Lowe revealed that all approved voluntary redundancy applications would amount to less than half the number of cuts STV intends to make.
Gordon and Buchan MP Harriet Cross, who sits on the Scottish Affairs Committee, stated: “We received no evidence today to justify the closure of the STV News at 6 North programme which is outperforming everything else of its kind. What was abundantly clear is that the STV hierarchy are cynically using the North licence as an easy target for their wider company balance sheet. This is a cowardly attack on the highly skilled staff based in Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness from central belt bosses who seemingly have little care for Northern Scotland.
“These proposed cuts risk undermining livelihoods and the essential service these staff provide to our communities. The consequences will be a diminished platform for Northern Scotland, weakened scrutiny of public institutions, and the silencing of rural voices that deserve to be heard. The shameful handling of this is quite frankly unacceptable and everything must be done to stop these cuts from happening.”
