Good Morning Britain was hit with Ofcom complaints after a fiery clash involving Ed Balls.
13:02, 01 May 2026Updated 13:07, 01 May 2026
Ed Balls shuts down Green Party leader after ‘car crash’ GMB interview
Good Morning Britain has been hit with Ofcom complaints over a “car crash” interview.
The ITV programme this week saw Susanna Reid and Ed Balls interview Green Party leader Zack Polanski.
However, the interview grew chaotic as Balls and Polanski clashed in a fiery row. Ofcom has now confirmed 85 complaints were made from viewers for Good Morning Britain on Monday, with the watchdog saying the complaints related to “an interview with Zack Polanski, which complainants alleged was biased”.
The interview had been branded a “car crash” by viewers at the time, following the heated exchange.
Things turned tense when Polanski asked the presenter: “Do you know what I’m enjoying, that the fact that a Labour politician, who is married to a senior Labour minister, is allowed to ask questions of the leader of the Green Party.”
Ed Balls and Susanna Reid hosted GMB (Image: ITV)
Balls, who was a Labour MP between 2005 and 2015, and is married to former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, hit back: “Are you accusing me of being a Labour politician?”
Polanski then replied: “It’s not even an accusation, you know. We’re planning to replace the Labour Party and take the fight to Reform.”
Balls, clarifying that he hadn’t been a politician for 10 years, continued: “Luckily, you’re a Green politician, you are the party leader, and you seem to be using a rather elaborate device of making accusations against me to avoid answering the questions. But the great thing is we can just keep going.”
As the interview progressed, Polanski said the hosts were “struggling”, adding, “You want to just do shock jock tactics.”
Zack Polanski clashed with Ed Balls live on air (Image: ITV)
Balls replied: “Hang on a sec, Mr Polanski. You accused me of being a Labour cabinet minister 16 years ago. And when Susanna asked you about something you said 10 years ago, you said it’s illegitimate to ask about things you stood for 10 years ago. The double standard is a bit shocking.”
The heated exchange caused quite a stir on social media, with ITV later denying reports that they are under pressure to axe Balls from GMB.
ITV told The Evening Standard: “Ed Balls remains a valued member of our presenting team. Any suggestions otherwise are categorically untrue.”
This comes after Balls sparked the second most-complained about moment of 2024, after interviewing his wife on GMB, with viewers claiming he couldn’t be “impartial” due to their relationship.
Former Labour MP Ed Balls is married to former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (Image: Getty Images)
ITV later defended its decision to allow Balls to interview his wife, but said they would not do it again after more than 16,000 complaints.
“It was a very, very tricky morning, there was a national emergency almost being called, and so we got very short notice that the home secretary was coming on the show,” Dame Carolyn McCall said last year.
“She was doing a whole round [of interviews], but it was unexpected, and we believe that it was fair and impartial.
“And actually Ofcom just ruled, but amazingly no one has picked up on the fact that Ofcom are not pursuing these complaints, because they believe it’s fair, balanced and impartial.
“So, would we do it again? No. Was it impartial, fair and balanced? And did they behave professionally? Yes.
“I mean, he asked her a few questions, but I think Kate [Garraway] was leading on that, wasn’t she? And so I do think you’ve just got to say, if Ofcom have looked at it and they’re not pursuing this any further because they thought it was fair, balanced and impartial, you know, that’s it.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on BBC One and iPlayer.