Andrew Neil has revealed the reason why his BBC Two show will not be returning to the schedules.

The 71-year-old is widely regarded as one of the best political interviewers in the business and was given his own weekly programme, The Andrew Neil Show, following his work for the BBC in the run-up to last year's general election.

Earlier this month the BBC announced a range of cuts across its news and political programming, with The Andrew Neil Show's cancellation confirmed at that time.

Now Neil has explained that the decision to drop the show was his and had nothing to do with cost-cutting, telling a follower on Twitter: "It's not coming back. The BBC said it could come back if I accepted a new, late afternoon time in the BBC2 schedule. But BBC2 bosses did not want it back at 7pm.

"I declined the new time so the show was cancelled. Sorry. Thanks for your interest."

Neil is now considering his options and recently hinted that he could move to another broadcaster.