The former chairman of Ofcom has accused broadcasters of being 'embarrassed' by GB News because the channel covers issues that resonate with a 'large swathe' of voters.

Lord Grade, who stepped down as chairman of the media watchdog in April and has since retaken the Conservative whip in the House of Lords, said GB News was being unfairly criticised for pursuing a different editorial agenda from rival broadcasters.

Speaking to Politics Home, he said: 'I honestly think they're embarrassed by the fact that there is a news organisation that has a different news agenda to them, that speaks to the agenda of the majority – if you look at the polls, a large swathe of the voting population, who have no voice on the BBC.

'Immigration, Brexit, these are all issues that don't get the weight on the BBC, or haven't been able to, that GB News will give, so what's the problem?'

Concerns were raised about Ofcom's approach to regulating GB News during Lord Grade's time as boss, which began in 2022.

But he added: 'The same rules apply to GB News as apply to the BBC, Sky, ITN, whoever. All news programmes are the result of editorial choices made all along the line.

'What story are we going to cover? How are we going to cover it? Who do we interview? What are we going to ask them...?

'Everything's a choice, all the way up. [Just] because GB News make different editorial choices necessarily on each news day from the BBC, ITN or Sky doesn't make it wrong.'