Dorries hits out at ‘London-centric’ BBC as she confirms licence fee freeze
Nadine Dorries has hit out at the BBC for being stuck in a “London bubble” and mired in “impartiality” as she confirms the yearly licence fee cost will be frozen for two years.
The culture secretary said she would launch a review into changing the licence fee funding model, a popular cause among rank and file Tory MPs, adding that “it’s time to start asking those really serious questions about the long-term funding model for the BBC”.
The BBC licence fee will remain £159 a year until April 2024 and it will then rise every year until 2027 by annual inflation.
It has been estimated the freeze, due to the current 5.1 per cent rate of inflation, equates to a £2bn funding cut.
Dorries said “cost of living is rising and this government is committed to supporting families as much as possible during these difficult times”.
However, The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Number 10 is using the licence fee freeze as an attempt to curry favour with the electorate and save Boris Johnson’s premiership.
Labour shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell accused Dorries of “cultural vandalism”, while casting serious doubt over the reasons for the licence fee freeze.
“Pull the other one,” she said.
Dorries also said the BBC’s funding model needs to change in order to compete with online streaming giants.
“I’ve made it clear the BBC needs to address issues around impartiality and groupthink. Those problems were highlighted definitively by the recent Serota review and the BBC’s own leadership rightly recognises those findings in full,” she said.
“We need a broadcaster that’s forward looking and ready to meet the challenges of modern broadcasting. A BBC that continues to engage the British public and commands support across the UK, not just the London bubble.”
It comes as a part of a larger war on the BBC that has been waged by Dorries since she was installed as culture secretary last September.
The culture secretary has previously labelled the BBC as “left-wing”, “hypocritical” and “patronising”.
This has included publicly criticising BBC political editor Laura Kuennsberg for reporting on disquiet among Tory MPs over Johnson’s leadership.
It was also reported that behind closed doors Dorries threatened to withhold funding from the BBC as a direct result of Nick Robinson’s tough questioning of Johnson during an edition of the Today programme.