Andy Welcomes David Cameron's Proposal to Freeze TV Licence Fee

 

Cllr Andy Morgan, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Bolton South East, this morning welcomed David Cameron's proposals to freeze the TV Licence and calls for the BBC to feel the economic strain like the rest of us.

Speaking at his regular Press Conference, David Cameron said:

"Whoever wins the general election, the next government of this country will need to make a clean break with the past and set about fixing our economy.  I’m absolutely determined to do that, and it means speaking very clearly and frankly about what’s gone wrong, and how we are going to put it right.

So on Friday I gave a pretty frank speech about the fundamental weaknesses in our economy, and our responsibility to tackle them.  That is our route-map to recovery, and in the next few weeks I will be making a series of speeches setting out the new Conservative economic strategy.

First, solving Labour’s Debt Crisis by making sure government lives within its means and delivers more for less.  And it’s not just government that has to live within its means – we all do.

So today, I want to make an announcement that shows our expectation that government and all taxpayer-funded institutions should start leading by example. The BBC is one of our most important national institutions.  It plays a vital role in bringing the country together, and I want to see it prosper and succeed and continue to be a fantastic cultural asset for Britain.  But it also needs to maintain public support, and I want to see it leading by example at a time when the whole country is tightening its belt.

And so I can announce today that we would freeze the BBC licence fee for one year. I think that would be an important signal to the country of the need for all public institutions, in these difficult economic circumstances, to do more with less.''

BBC Expenditure

This 2 per cent increase in the licence fee is the equivalent of an extra £68 million, on top of their budget of £3.4 billion. Some examples of wasteful spending that could be reduced include:

  • 50 of its most senior managers were paid a total of £14.3 million last year (Daily Mail, 21 January 2009).
  • £13.8 million on taxis between April 2007 and March 2008 (Press Association, 14 July 2008).
  • £2,797,032 on corporate affairs in 2007/8 (Freedom of Information request, BBC FOI ref: RFI20090095).
  • £170,000 on four parties for the cast and crew of shows such as Merlin and Little Dorrit (Daily Star, 18 December 2008).
  • £350,000 on bottled water (The Independent, 15 October 2008).
  • £93,000 on expenses for Trustees (BBC Trust website).
  • £5.6 million tax free allowances will be made available as a remote relocation allowance when jobs are moved from London to Salford (Evening Standard, 9 March 2008).
  • £5.2 million was spent on private car hire between April 2007 and March 2008 (Press Association, 14 July 2008).

The Conservatives have called for the National Audit Office to have full access to the BBC’s accounts in order to identify more wasteful spending so that this freeze wouldn’t affect programme budgets or jobs.