Fact check: Housing Secretary continued to answer questions after video cut out

The Conservative Party claimed Housing Secretary Steve Reed’s “internet connection conveniently cuts out” after he was asked awkward questions during an interview on Sky News.

An attached video clip shows Mr Reed speaking to the interviewer on Sky via a videolink. The screen then goes dark, showing only the text “Steve Reed, Secretary of State”.

The presenter says “well, I can see your name”, and at that point the 11-second clip posted on social media cuts out.

Evaluation

The clip is misleading because it does not show the rest of the interview in which Mr Reed continues to answer questions after his screen goes blank.

Immediately after the clip shared on X stops, Mr Reed went on to explain that the video had turned itself off because the device he was calling from was running low on battery.

The facts

Sky News uploaded the full exchange to YouTube. It shows that when Mr Reed’s video cuts out, his voice continues.

While the audio is slightly hard to hear for a couple of seconds, Mr Reed says that something “is running out of power”.

It sounds like he says “I believe my iPad is running out of power, unfortunately.”

He then answers the Sky interviewer’s question and follow-up questions.

A spokesperson for Mr Reed said: “This is desperate rubbish from the Tories.”

Links

Post on X (archived post and video)

Second post on X (archived)

YouTube – Steve Reed responds to Andy Burnham’s leadership ambitions (archived audio)