MPs attack BBC’s ‘poll tax’ licence fee
THE future of the BBC’s licence fee will come into question as MPs launch an investigation into Corporation spending.
Nothing will be off-limits for the MPs, who have labelled the licence fee a “poll tax” on viewers.
The public will be asked for opinions too before the BBC’s current charter, which sets the licence fee, runs out.
One Westminster insider said: “This is the first beat of the jungle drums in the lead up to the negotiations for charter renewal in 2016.”
The inquiry is being held by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.
The licence fee, currently frozen at £145.50 a year, brings the BBC more than £4billion in revenue.
Recent scandals, such as million-pound payoffs to former executives, have thrown the spotlight on whether the public is getting value for money.
The MPs will look at alternative funding to the licence fee, such as advertising, general taxation and sponsorship.
They will also look at how the BBC is regulated and whether the National Audit Office should have free rein to look at the Corporation’s finances when it chooses. Currently, it can only do so by arrangement with the BBC.
Tory MP Rob Wilson said: “After the series of scandals over the past year, it is absolutely right to have a root and branch review of every aspect of the BBC before the next Royal Charter is agreed.
“Now that the BBC itself is planning to start a sort of BBC iTunes, charging people wanting to watch old programmes, we need to have a proper and honest debate about the future of the licence fee, which is a poll tax on television.”
The inquiry is expected to draw on a little-known Commons research paper which looked at “value for money in public services” in 2010.
Under the heading, What Is The BBC For? its author, lecturer Grahame Danby, asked: “Is the television licence a sustainable way of funding the BBC long term?
“When fewer people watch the BBC’s output, and more choose to watch the hundreds of available digital channels, can the continued imposition of a regressive tax to fund Strictly Come Dancing be justified?”.
He added: “Direct subscription has attractions and would be more feasible when the television world is totally digital.”