Onslaught on BBC licence fee

● Minister plays down reports on alternative funding for broadcaster

ACabinet minister has played down reports that Downing Street wants to axe the TV licence fee and fund the BBC through viewer subscriptions.

Number 10 had signalled a new onslaught on the broadcaster, with The Sunday Times quoting a senior source as saying the BBC could be forced to sell off most of its radio stations in a “massive pruning back” of its activities.

The source told the paper Boris Johnson was “really strident” on the need for serious reform, and they said there would be a consultation on replacing the licence fee with a subscription model, adding: “We will whack it.”

But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that while there was a consultation under way into decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee, there were no “preordained” decisions on future funding models.

The Sunday Times said that the number of BBC TV channels could also be reduced, the website scaled back and stars banned from cashing in with well-paid second jobs.

However, Mr Shapps told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “There is a consultation. It is just a consultation at this stage. There are no further decisions made at all.

“The BBC is a muchloved national treasure. We all want it to be a huge success. But everybody, including the BBC, recognises that in a changing world the BBC itself will have to change.

“The charter runs to 2027

VISION: Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, right, with Andrew Marr, discussing the BBC licence fee

so there is long way to go on all these decisions.”

The latest in the Sunday newspaper will be seen as a further escalation of the hostilities between No 10

and the corporation, with many Tories still angry at its coverage of last year’s general election.

A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC plays an

important role, it is the bedrock of our worldbeating creative industries, and reaches millions of people every day.

“The public back it and

they will undoubtedly have their own views about the future.”

The government is already consulting on proposals to decriminalise non-payment of the licence fee and ministers have suggested it could be abolished when the BBC’s charter comes up for renewal in 2027.

It was reported the review will be led by former culture secretary John Whittingdale, who was reappointed to his old department last week.

The Sunday Times quoted one source as saying: “We are not bluffing on the licence fee. We are having a consultation and we will whack it. It has got to be a subscription model.

“They’ve got hundreds of radio stations, they’ve got all these TV stations and a massive website. The whole thing needs massive pruning back. The PM is of the view that there needs to be serious reform. He is really strident on this.”