Greg Smith, Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire, has said it is “an absurdity” that the broadcaster “should not play a song that is selling so well”, MailOnline reports.
In addition, the musicians behind the tune have claimed that their efforts to reach number one are being thwarted by radio stations refusing to play it to their audiences.
Marketer and freelance writer Chris Middleton, 33, wrote the song’s lyrics. These include: “It’ll be freezing this Christmas, without fuel at home, it’ll be freezing this Christmas, while Keir Starmer is warm. It’ll be cold, so cold, without fuel at home, this Christmas.”
In 1980, the BBC aired the anti-Thatcher track, Stand Down Margaret by the Beat, according to The Telegraph, which called for the resignation of the then-Prime Minister.
The tune was played on The Old Grey Whistle Test and Cheggers Plays Pop, a children’s show.
The lyrics of the song included: “Our lives seem petty in your cold grey hands/ Would you give a second thought/ Would you ever give a damn, I doubt it/ Stand down Margaret.”
Joanna Marchong, the investigations campaign manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which runs an Axe the Tax campaign to scrap the BBC licence fee, said: “Licence fee payers will be appalled by the Beeb’s blatant bias.
“The BBC claims to be impartial, yet they’re refusing to play Freezing This Christmas despite its chart-topping success, based on what they think listeners want.
“BBC bosses must end this two-tier broadcasting and focus on serving the public fairly, not pushing their own narrow agenda.”
The BBC said: “We play a wide range of music across our stations – we don’t have specific policies on tracks or ban any songs. Decisions on what we play are always made with the relevant audiences and context in mind.”
