Ukip pledge to scrap licence fee to punish ‘biased’ BBC
UKIP today pledges to scrap the licence fee amid fury over the BBC’s alleged anti-Brexit “bias”.
The party will compare the licence fee to the poll tax as it questions why poorer households must pay the £147 annual charge and declares it is “time to axe the TV tax”.
However, critics will jump on the suggestion that people could instead be forced to pay to watch BBC television through subscription or endure advertising.
Paul Nuttall, the Ukip leader, officially announced he would be standing for election in Boston and Skegness, a pro-Brexit seat in Lincolnshire.
The region recorded one of the highest votes for leaving the EU at last year’s referendum, with 75.6 per cent of voters in Boston backing Brexit.
Asked if he can win, Mr Nuttall said: “Who knows? There’s six weeks to go in this campaign, the Conservative MP campaigned to remain during the referendum … We’ll be giving it a good go.”
Ukip will this week unveil a new set of election manifesto pledges as it seeks to win back voters.
Patrick O’Flynn, the Ukip economic spokesman, said the licence fee was “obsolete” in the age of online streaming and subscription services.
He added that the “clinching reason” for scrapping the licence fee was “the BBC’s record of political bias, whether over Brexit, the debate over mass immigration, climate change, penal policy, the US Presidential election coverage or a host of other issues”.
The party will also be promising to scrap green taxes and levies and abolish VAT on women’s sanitary products and hot takeaway meals such as fish and chips.
The BBC has repeatedly rejected claims of bias over its European coverage. A spokesman for the corporation said: “The public supports the licence fee as the best way of funding the BBC and there was overwhelming backing for a strong, independent and licence feefunded BBC during the Government’s recent consultation. The BBC is the news organisation most trusted by the public.”