King Charles during a recent visit to Scotland (Image: Getty)
A freedom of speech row has been sparked by a Scottish independence poster featuring an image of King Charles that was effectively 'banned' by an advertising firm.
The poster - designed by Alex Salmond’s Alba Party - was rejected by the media company Global, which manages more than 250,000 advertising sites around the UK. Global was reportedly concerned the poster could cause “offence”.
The poster - which uses an official image of the King, as he appears on postage stamps - sees the monarch 'crossed out' by a red prohibition sign. Above the image is the slogan: 'It’s time for an Independent Republic of Scotland'.
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The poster that Global has refused to display (Image: Alba)
It comes just weeks after Global claimed another Alba poster - which depicted Rishi Sunak as a vampire drinking Scotland’s oil - was "slanderous". The pro-independence party has now claimed that a media company should not be able to control the political messages seen by the public.
Alba's general secretary Chris McEleny said “censorship” in political advertising was a growing concern. McEleny said: "We have a potential general election next year and the current situation is that media giants will get to decide which messages the public get to see and which messages they don’t.
"Therefore if you wanted to campaign for an independent Scotland with an elected head of state, you wouldn’t be allowed to display an image of King Charles on the advert in fear that it would upset the royals.
“This is a ridiculous situation to be in – we must not allow interference in our democratic right to campaign in elections.”
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In an email, Global - which also owns radio stations such as LBC, Classic FM and Capital - told Alba it had strict rules around political advertising. The email said Global would not carry artwork “deemed to be politically persuasive with the use of something that is likely to cause offence, likely to get complaints and likely to have to be removed/replaced”.
The Telegraph said it had approached Global for a comment.
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