by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Pressure is building on BBC chiefs to overturn their controversial decision to axe South East Today presenters Geoff Clark and Beverley Thompson after an MP urged them to reconsider.

Nigel Waterson, Conservative MP for Eastbourne, has tabled an Early Day Motion raising concerns that the decision to replace the pair from the end of October may have been made on the grounds of age, an accusation always strenuously denied by the BBC.

He says the presenters are "hugely popular with viewers in the region and highly respected for their experienced and reliable brand of journalism".

The MP, who is the Tory shadow minister for older people, says he "hopes that there is no truth in the rumours that the decision was related in any way to their age".

The full motion reads as follows: "That this House regrets the decision of BBC South East to replace their well-known presenters Beverley Thompson and Geoff Clark; notes that they are hugely popular with viewers in the region and highly respected for their experienced and reliable brand of journalism; hopes that there is no truth in the rumours that the decision was related in any way to their age; and calls on the BBC to reconsider the decision."

KentOnline has been inundated with complaints about the decision to axe the pair. BBC chiefs justified it on the grounds of findings by a survey of viewers.

But insiders at the BBC in Tunbridge Wells claim bosses "misinterpreted" the data and used the findings to suit their own purposes of replacing Clark and Thompson by the younger pairing of Rob Smith and Polly Evans who were said to show "more vitality."