£159 BBC licence fee should be ‘scrapped altogether’, new Culture Secretary thinks
BRITAIN’S new Culture Secretary thinks the BBC licence fee should be “scrapped altogether”, it emerged last night.
Michelle Donelan once branded the annual £159 telly levy an “unfair tax” in a blistering article tearing into the publicly-bankrolled broadcaster.
Now Liz Truss has sent the former WWE employee to wrestle with BBC bosses over the running of the Corporation.
In 2019 Ms Donelan blasted Beeb bosses for revoking free TV licences for pensioners and launched a petition against the “appalling” decision.
The then Tory backbencher wrote in her local Melksham Independent: “Personally I think the licence fee is an unfair tax and should be scrapped all together but that is a different debate.”
Despite her appointment to Cabinet, Downing Street yesterday insisted the most recent £23billion funding settlement until 2028 still stood.
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The PM’s official spokesman said its position “hasn’t changed” until the next review.
But in an age of Netflix and Amazon a growing clamour of critics want to axe the compulsory tax, for which non-payment could even land you in jail.
During the leadership campaign Ms Truss vowed to order a review into whether failing to pay should be a criminal offence.
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The BBC has also been hammered over alleged left-wing bias, with many Tory MPs furious with its recent coverage.
Last night campaigners welcomed Ms Donelan‘s appointment.
Rebecca Ryan, campaign director of pressure group Defund the BBC, said: “It’s great to hear the new Culture Secretary has called for the licence fee to be scrapped altogether.
“Let’s put an end to hard working Britons being bullied on their doorsteps into funding a service that paints them as out of touch bigots by this wasteful, metropolitan elitist corporation.”
Ms Donelan’s previous Cabinet job was a mere two-day stint as Education Secretary before she quit amid the slew of resignations that brought down Boris Johnson.