CHANNEL 5 has issued a response to complaints over a discussion on the Jeremy Vine show of Scottish independence.

Panellists were addressing a newspaper report on former prime minister Gordon Brown saying support for Scottish independence would surge if Boris Johnson won the Tory leadership contest.

Paul Burrell, Princess Diana’s former butler, said the article was "food" for Nicola Sturgeon, and that the UK is stronger together.

He continued: "I mean, for goodness' sake, Scotland, by itself? How is it going to survive? What does it have? Oil and a monster in a lake."

READ MORE: Transcript of what was said in THAT Jeremy Vine episode about Scotland

Model Nicola McLean and Scottish co-host Storm Huntley also suggested Irn Bru, whisky, wind power, shortbread, tartan and bagpipes as other options.

Vine asked a Scottish audience member if the country could survive on its own, and received a one-word reply of "no".

Current affairs commentator Carole Malone dismissed the suggestion that Scottish people wanted to leave the Union.

She said: "Every time they do a poll it says that the figures now for staying within the union are higher than they were at the time of the referendum."

This was untrue, with a YouGov poll for the Times at the end of April finding 49% support for a Yes vote. A Panelbase survey published last week showed 53% would want independence if Johnson become PM.

Now, Channel 5 has responded to criticism of the show from Scottish viewers.

A spokesperson for Jeremy Vine on 5 said: "Questions about Scottish independence come up regularly on the programme, reflecting a broad range of views.

"The comments made by Paul Burrell were in the context of our daily ‘stories of the day’ segment in which one of the dozen articles being discussed was from the Daily Mail and headlined ‘UK could split apart if Boris becomes PM warns (Gordon) Brown’. 

"As with all panellists, the views Paul expressed are personal to him and do not reflect those of the show.”