A senior Tory MP has described a forthcoming review into BBC funding as a “sham”, as Nadine Dorries called the licence fee a “regressive tax” which penalises women and poorer people.
It comes after the culture secretary unveiled a two-year freeze to the organisation’s licence fee in January, with a review to be launched before the summer recess to examine alternatives.
Appearing at the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Ms Dorries told MPs people needed to “wake up and smell the coffee”, insisting it was time for a model that is “more effective, modern and fair”.
The cabinet minister labelled the existing licence fee a “regressive tax and it does penalise women and the poor more than it does others”, adding it was “antediluvian” to suggest it was still appropriate now.
But Damian Green — the former de facto deputy prime minister under Theresa May — suggested it was “the wrong way round” for the minister to come to a decision, before launching a consultation.
He said: “You have decided that the licence fee can’t carry on, but now you’re going to consult on whether the licence fee can carry on or not. Doesn’t that make that consultation a complete sham?”
Responding to the MP during the committee, Ms Dorries said: “No, all I said is, we are looking at a review… that is my position.”
The cabinet minister said when the BBC funding model was introduced it was the “right model at the right time”.
But she went on: “To sit here and say all these years later, in the broadcasting landscape that we are now, that a model for funding the BBC is still applicable and still appropriate, at a time when 74 per cent of all convictions for non-payment of licence fee are women, I think is almost antediluvian”
“We’re at a point where,we have to wake up and smell the coffee and realise that times are changing rapidly in terms of the broadcasting landscape. It’s time for a more effective, more modern, and fair way of funding the BBC.”
Ms Dorries said she didn’t “have an opinion” on the alternative funding model, adding: “I’m sure that review will be robust and for the first time in a very long time there will be a full exploration of the licence fee, how it works, and what the options are for moving forward in the future”.
The cabinet minister also said she expected the review to begin “considerably before” the summer recess, also suggested the process would take around six months after an independent chair is appointed.
“Everybody, including the BBC, will be part of that review and can contribute to it. At the ending of the review, as every review does, they will report to me the findings.
“I have no influence, no say over what happens during the review — that’s completely separate, totally independent. My view is as irrelevant as your view”.
Elsewhere, the cabinet minister was questioned on the privatisation of Channel 4, saying she “can’t see a scenario” in which a privately owned C4 would become partly or wholly subscription based.
She told the committee: “As a public service broadcaster that is not on the table, that is just not on the cards at all. I can’t see a scenario in which that would happen.”
Ms Dorries also described C4 News as “edgy” and claimed the programme sometimes has not done itself “any favours”. But when quizzed on why she refused to appear on C4 to answer questions on the sale of the channel, she replied: “That’s my right to do so. Which media outlet I choose to appear on is my choice”.
