Culture Secretary Matt Hancock slams BBC for giving pro-Kremlin guests airtime on Russian nerve agent attack and calls for it to be tougher on fake news

THE BBC must be tougher on fake news and bias and not give airtime to “total nonsense”, Culture Secretary Matt Hancock said.

He told the corporation to make clear what was true and what was false when guests made contested assertions on its programmes.

Mr Hancock was speaking after the Beeb was criticised for giving a platform to a commentator from the Kremlin-­controlled Russia Today news channel to discuss the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.

The ­editor-in-chief of far-left ­website The Canary also ­controversially appeared on Question Time last year.

Mr Hancock told a media conference in Oxford: “I want public service broadcasters to be more muscular in asserting their judgement and objectivity.

“Objectivity means stating this fact is wrong, and that fact is true, and not giving any airtime to total nonsense at all.

"Where facts can be established, your duty is to tell the truth.”

Mr Hancock said, while the BBC was bureaucratic and infuriating, it could be the “best bulwark against fake news”.

A BBC spokesman said: “No public service broadcaster is doing more to tackle the scourge of fake news.

“We want to be leaders in this area and, while guests will have uncomfortable views, our job is to challenge them.”