TORIES TARGET
PM orders licence fee review as his ministers shun Today programme
A SHOT has been fired across the BBC’s bows after Boris Johnson ordered a review into whether not paying for a TV licence should be a criminal offence.
Watching television or the BBC iPlayer without a £154.50a-year licence currently can lead to a court appearance and a £1,000 fine – or even jail if the fine is not paid.
But ministers have argued that prosecutions take up too much court time and the penalties are disproportionate.
It comes as ministers revealed plans to boycott Radio 4’s Today programme because Downing Street believes it is ‘stuck in a Remainer, Islington bubble’.
A senior Government source said: ‘The BBC and Channel 4 had a terrible election – day after day they were out of sync with where the people are outside London.
‘There is no point us going on Today. There is more mileage having ministers on the breakfast sofas or on Radio 5 Live or LBC.’
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak yesterday announced that the Prime Minister has ‘instructed people to look at’ decriminalising non-payment of licence fees. He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘I think that the Government feels strongly, as do I that the BBC is an incredibly important national institution. It plays a very valuable role in our country, in our life.
‘I think that things like criminalisation of the fee is something discrete and specific that we can and should look at and we will do that in the first instance.’
Mr Sunak said there would be wider consideration of the future of TV licences when the current Royal Charter – which sets out the governance of the BBC – comes to an end in December 2027.
‘The BBC’s funding settlement is already set out and secure through to 2027,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to sit here and speculate about things that are eight years down the track. But the point is at the moment the main thing to focus on is just the decriminalisation of the licence fee and everything else so the BBC is secure until 2027.
‘The media industry is changing. How people consume media is changing and it’s of course right that we continue to look at those things over time.’
Last financial year, 25.8million households had TV licences bringing in £3.6billion to the BBC. A review may recommend replacing the existing criminal sanctions for
‘Penalties are disproportionate’
non-payment of the TV licence fee with a civil system of fines. In the run-up to last week’s General Election, Mr Johnson said he was ‘looking at’ abolishing the licence fee altogether. He said that while the
Tories were currently ‘not planning to get rid of all TV licence fees’, the current system ‘bears reflection’.
The BBC warned that the change would have an adverse effect on funding for its services by encouraging evasion and could cost it up to £200million in lost revenue. A spokesman said: ‘The Government has already commissioned a QC to take an in-depth look at this matter and he found that “the current system of
criminal deterrence and prosecution should be maintained” and that it is fair and value for money to licence fee payers.
‘the review also found that non-payment cases accounted for “a minute fraction” – only 0.3 per cent – of court time. Decriminalisation could also mean we have at least £200million less to spend on programmes and services our audiences love.’