THE BBC has come under fire after a story appeared to suggest an English county was receiving a Westminster funding boost – despite it being a huge cut.

The BBC reported that Cornwall was receiving more than £100 million in funding from the UK Government as part of its Shared Prosperity Fund aimed at replacing EU funding.

The BBC’s headline read: “Cornwall to get £132 of funding for next three years”.

The broadcaster was criticised for its coverage, particularly its headline, as other media outlets had reported the news not as a funding boost, but as a funding cut.

READ MORE: The REAL Scottish Politics: Let's be clear on nature of BBC bias

Cornwall Council had asked the UK Government for £700m over the next seven years to match previous EU funding. The Tories said it was a "huge win" for the area, but critics pointed out it is less than half of what the EU had given.

News outlets such as ITV led with the headline “Cornwall set to get less than half of its replacement EU funding” while Cornwall Live’s headline read “Cornwall set to get less than half of its replacement EU funding but Conservatives welcome announcement”.

The BBC was slammed for its headline, with the Good Law Project’s Jo Maugham tweeting: “Oi, @BBCNewsPR. Shouldn't your headline be "Cornwall's funding cut by 56%’?”

Meanwhile, author Edwin Hayward tweeted: “The BBC has gone with a ludicrously bland headline. Presumably because Brexit is concerned.

"The story is that Cornwall was getting about £100 million a year before Brexit, so this is a gigantic cut. But can you tell from the headline? Absolutely not.”

And a Boris Johnson parody account even mocked the BBC for the article, saying: “Jolly decent of the BBC to announce Cornwall getting half the funding it would have had from the EU as if it's a good thing and forgetting to mention Brexit.”

The National: The BBC's coverage of the funding cut has been compared to other news outlets. BBC News left, and Cornwall LiveThe BBC's coverage of the funding cut has been compared to other news outlets. BBC News left, and Cornwall Live

In the third paragraph of the BBC story, it does mention that the country was expected to receive around £100m a year from the EU. But many readers were unhappy with how the article led on the funding announcement and not on it being a cut.

Its coverage of this story forms part of a wider criticism by some of the BBC’s general coverage of Brexit, with accusations the broadcaster is watering down its coverage of the issue.

Previously, the BBC was alleged by some to have “edited out” a reference to Brexit in one of its broadcast clips on food shortages.

Anger erupted after a segment aired on BBC Scotland’s The Seven and Reporting Scotland appeared to cut out the speaker's mentions of Brexit amid a discussion on the impact of food shortages.

National Farmers Union Scotland president Martin Kennedy had been discussing issues affecting farming, such as the war in Ukraine, Covid and Brexit.

The National: LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 13: Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament on March 13, 2019 in London, England. Last night MPs voted 242 to 391 against British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal in the second meaningful

The latter issue was included in a written version on the BBC’s website but appears to have been removed from the broadcast clip.

READ MORE: Dan Walker rejects claims about his BBC exit after string of high-profile departures

Figures such as Tony Blair’s former No 10 Comminations boss Alistair Campbell and SNP president Michael Russel accused the outlet of editorialising its Brexit coverage.

Campbell said there appeared to be “some sort of policy decision” to reduce mention of Brexit in reporting while Russell accused the broadcaster of “airbrushing” Brexit “out of existence”.

The BBC declined to comment on the issue but when asked on Twitter if the broadcaster had taken an “editorial direction … to avoid negative reporting of Brexit, as has been claimed”, BBC Scotland’s business and economy editor Douglas Fraser was dismissive.

He responded: “I have no idea what you’re on about. But I’m going to hazard a guess that the ‘has been claimed’ part was a fantasy.”

The BBC has declined to comment.