THE BBC has come under fire after The Andrew Marr Show had representatives from Labour, the Tories and LibDems on the final edition of the programme before the Scottish Parliament election on Thursday – but not the SNP.

The line-up consisted of Willie Rennie, Douglas Ross, shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Daily Telegraph associate editor Camilla Tominey.

Marr said Scottish independence may be Boris Johnson’s “next big political problem”.  He highlighted a Sunday Telegraph front page that outlined the Prime Minister’s “blueprint to save the Union”, citing plans to spend billions of pounds on new road and rail links, treating Scottish patients in English NHS beds, and student exchanges between UK nations.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon did appear on Marr last week and on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show yesterday, but it does not have the same profile as the Marr programme.

A BBC spokesperson told The National: “Across the election period The Andrew Marr Show has featured interviews with the leaders of the larger five parties.

"Last week the leader of the SNP and First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, was interviewed on the programme."

Erik Geddes, head of broadcast media at the SNP, criticised the move on Twitter, saying: "Some enlightening Sunday splashes today but the only front page about Scotland to get a mention on #Marr is pro-Union propaganda & Pro union voice unchallenged.

"Unnecessarily and avoidably one sided from Broadcasting House. Disappointing if predictable. Do better @BBCPolitics"

The move was also criticised by the SNP's Pete Wishart who said the interview with Ross was a "car crash".

Commentator and National columnist Gerry Hassan said: "Scottish Tory leader @Douglas4Moray refuses to say on FOUR occasions that Scottish people have the right to decide their own future on #marr. Hardly a democratic politics and unionism."

Hywel Williams of Plaid Cymru also criticised the lack of SNP representation.

Others pointed out the fact Tories got two representatives in Ross and Raab.

Here are the best responses: 

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When asked about the timescale for a potential second independence vote and a democratic measure on what would secure the vote, Ross said: “Well, I've spoken to nationalists in this campaign when we've been out and about across Scotland. People in favour of a second independence referendum are not in favour of Nicola Sturgeon’s timescale. 

“The fact that we could potentially have another referendum within the next couple of years, Nicola Sturgeon has said that she would be campaigning for that during a recovery, so even pro-independence supporters are saying ‘we cannot risk our recovery and put our rebuilding efforts on the line while the nationals take us to another damaging device-independent referendum."

He continued: “There is an opportunity at this election to focus on recovery, to focus on rebuilding...” before Marr interrupted saying: “That’s not an answer. I’m sorry Douglas Ross but that is not an answer I am asking what is the route, the democratic route to independence."

Responding Ross said: “I don’t think anyone would expect the leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party to be suggesting that we should have another independence referendum. I don't want that. I want to focus on education, raising our educational standards that have plummeted over the SNP’s 14 years in power.

“I want to invest more in the NHS. I want to support businesses and protect jobs. That’s what we can do at this election if we get rid of the threat of another independence referendum."  

READ MORE: Douglas Ross and Willie Rennie refuse to set out democratic route to indyref2

Marr also asked the Scottish Conservative leader where Boris Johnson was after he said ‘wild horses’ wouldn’t stop him coming to Scotland during the election campaign - and what had prevented him from doing so.  

“All these things that are under threat at the moment, we can actually have a parliament focused on these issues if we can stop a second SNP majority.”

Ross responded: “Well the Prime Minister knows I’m leading the party here in Scotland, it’s the Scottish Conservative and Unionist candidates that are on the ballot paper, not the Prime Minister, and it's our manifesto that's going forward to the people of Scotland in just a few days time. 

“The reason he has not been to Scotland is because I’m leading the campaign here in Scotland.

"I am the one taking the fight to the SNP to try and get the next Scottish Parliament laser-focused on her recovery and rebuilding, to try and ensure that we see the investment in NHS, in our police service, in our education system all these things that are under threat at the moment we can actually have a parliament focused on these issues if we can stop a second SNP majority and a second independence referendum."

LibDem leader Rennie was also grilled on the issue by Marr, and asked what he thought the democratic route to a second referendum would be.

He said: “I think it’s very democratic that if I stand at a platform on an election campaign and say I don’t want another independence referendum that that’s exactly how I should vote because that’s what the people have voted for me for, that’s the essence of democracy.

“It would be bizarre if I did the opposite, so I’m not going to support it. The reason why I don’t support another independence referendum is because we saw what it was like last time, the divisions within society were deep and I don’t want it again.”

And, asked if the SNP, Greens and Alba formed a pro-independence majority in the next term of the Scottish Parliament, and if this would give a mandate for a vote, Rennie said: “Isn’t it a depressing prospect that we’ve got various factions of the nationalist movement arguing about the result of the election which hasn’t even happened yet.

“Lets focus on actually what this election is about and this is about whether we have a parliament that’s focussed on independence as they would want or whether we want a parliament that’s focussed on recovery.”

Asked if his party was no longer in favour of joining the EU, Rennie said: “I don’t think the Nationalists have learnt one single lesson from the Brexit experience, not one single one.

“We had divisions right across the country, we’ve seen problems with businesses trading across the European Union, we’ve seen the issues in Northern Ireland and they’ve looked at that and said yeah, we want more of that.

“No, I think we should put the divisions of the past behind us, ofcourse I want to join the European Union, I want to be a member, we were the leading party across the United Kingdom against Brexit, we campaigned every single step of the way, but I accept that for the next five years we should focus on recovery, I accept that.”

READ MORE: Holyrood set for SNP majority and Alex Salmond return, new poll predicts