A LABOUR peer has revealed he made a formal complaint to BBC Scotland over the First Minister’s daily coronavirus briefings, claiming they break Ofcom rules.

Since the beginning of the pandemic Nicola Sturgeon has delivered near-daily updates on the Covid-19 situation in Scotland, providing the latest figures on case numbers, virus prevalence, death statistics and more. The First Minister, who is typically joined by medical experts, then takes questions from journalists.

The briefings have won the First Minister praise and are linked to her soaring approval ratings in recent polls.

The Scottish Tories and Labour criticised the corporation for airing the briefings earlier this summer, accusing Sturgeon of using the public broadcaster as a platform to “score political points”.

READ MORE: Unionists attack BBC for broadcasting Nicola Sturgeon's Covid briefings

It was also reported that the UK Government has “fears” about the briefings after seeing the First Minister’s approval ratings rapidly rise to 100 points ahead of Boris Johnson’s.

Number 10 hosted daily briefings on coronavirus but the Prime Minister did not make frequent appearances at them.

Downing Street held the conferences from March to June – shutting them down before pubs and restaurants reopened in England.

The Unionist parties appeared to cool off on their demands for Sturgeon’s briefings to be stopped as the Aberdeen coronavirus outbreak became serious and prompted the introduction of new lockdown restrictions in the city.

However now the Scottish Government says this cluster appears to be under control, Labour and Tory figures are once again complaining about the sessions.

George Foulkes, former MP and MSP, tweeted last night: “I’ve put a formal complaint to @BBCScotland that they are breaking Ofcom & BBC Charter rules on impartiality by broadcasting daily broadcasts by the SNP leader without the right of reply to Opposition parties. Others could follow this example!”

Hundreds of people replied to the "ridiculous" peer reminding him that there is still a global pandemic going on.

Lawyer Aamer Anwar responded simply “state of this one” to the Lord’s call to action.

SNP councillor Mhairi Hunter asked him: “Right of reply? What are they going to do, take turns to stand up and say remember to wash your hands?”

Commentator Angela Haggerty added: "Honestly, this kind of party politics around the pandemic is infuriating. I tune into the briefings every single day because it's a public health broadcast & I want to know every development. I want to protect my son. And tbh it's far more helpful/informative than combative FMQs."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "The regular media briefings continue to be the most used source of information about the Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland and are used to disseminate the latest public health guidance on coronavirus, as well as important information about services and support for people and the economy.

"They also provide an opportunity for scrutiny from the media with 10 to 20 members of the media participating every day."