The BBC must not bow to political pressure to retain free licence fee for over-75s

In common with thousands of licence fee payers, I was dismayed to hear the Department of Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Jeremy Wright claim that it was “the expectation of the Government” that after 2020 the BBC continues with the free licence fee for the over-75s.

Phrased in this way, it sounds like a demand or a directive: one which needs to be resisted for a number of reasons.

First, if the independence of the BBC is to mean anything, the fact that the Government has handed over this responsibility should mean just that. The Corporation is responsible and if the BBC board takes the view that it should not be responsible for a mistaken social policy, then that judgement should be respected.

Second, generational inequity is now a hot button issue. Why should young licence fee payers be asked to subsidise old age pensioners who are the heaviest consumers of BBC content? Does the UK Government wish to stoke up resentment against the licence fee? This expectation would be one way to bring this about.

The DCMS should be trying to support the BBC to make content which appeals to all citizens of all ages. The over75s licence fee is estimated to comprise about 20 per cent of the BBC’S income. Responsibility for this would be, in effect, a 20 per cent cut in the BBC’S income.

Wright’s expectation is really the opening shot in a negotiation over the next licence fee settlement. This is due to be from 2020, roughly midway through the current charter at a time when there will also be a mini-charter review to examine whether or not the new governance arrangements and regulation by OFCOM etc are working. So at the very time when the government is seeking to decide on the next five-year settlement, the BBC will again have to defend itself on a number of fronts.

At the last charter review there was an attempt to take the BBC charter away from the even more intense politicisation which occurs in the run-up to general elections. But Theresa May’s decision to go to the country outwith the five-year terms put paid to the possibility of moving the charter review away from such dangerous timings.

One can imagine the uproar from the Government if the BBC dares to reinstate the licence fee for the over-75s. It would be a brave BBC board which took this decision. But Sir David Clementi and the Board should do this–after due research and consideration.

I believe that the majority of the over-75s would support such a policy. If the Government wished to support these voters and pay for their licence fee, then there are many ways in which it could be done: added to the winter fuel allowance for one, or added to the pension or tax relief. The original policy was a government responsibility and should remain such.

The time has also come for the decision to set the licence fee to be taken away from the Government and placed in the hands of an independent commission.

The BBC is too precious to be left in the hands of governments who cannot even see that the soft power communicated by the BBC is worth its weight in gold, and the more so at a time of Brexit.

PROFESSOR ROBERT BEVERIDGE Visiting professor at the University of Sassari Sardinia, Italy