Gregory Campbell questions Nadine Dorries on TV licence fee

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Ongoing negotiations between the Government and the BBC over the cost of the annual fee until the end of 2027 have concluded with Nadine Dorries, 64, announcing the licence fee will stay static at £159 for the following two years. Ms Dorries intends to keep the fee flat at £159 for a colour licence until April 2024, which would lead to a severe cut to the corporation’s funding.

If the fee would not remain flat and increase in line with inflation, which is now 5.1 percent, the cost would be £167.

After two years at the same rate, it would reach £175.

Due to this, officials calculate the BBC will have to find savings of more than £2 billion over the next six years, the Daily Mail reports.

However, the Culture Secretary is also considering retaining future fee increases below inflation between 2024 and 2027, the Daily Mail claims.

READ MORE: Licence fee’s days are numbered! BBC issued brutal warning

Following that period, the licence fee will likely transition to a new funding model which reflects the growing popularity of subscription services such as Netflix.

The Times claims the plans, which are set to be unveiled as one of a number of announcements being drawn up in Downing Street, are aimed at drawing attention away from ‘Partygate’ and other crises surrounding Boris Johnson.

The new plan is a part of “Operation Red Meat” which is a collection of new proposals from the Government including a workplace “booze ban” within Number 10, freezing the BBC licence fee for two years and give the military control of the effort to stop illegal Channel crossings, the Sunday Times reports.

It claimed the deal has not yet been communicated to the BBC, whose senior staff had expected a significantly more generous settlement.

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A BBC source told the Times: “There are very good reasons for investing in what the BBC can do for the British public and the creative industries, and the [profile of the] UK around the world.

“Anything less than inflation would put unacceptable pressure on the BBC finances after years of cuts.”

The licence fee currently earns the corporation £3.2 billion a year.

Julian Knight, the Tory MP for Solihull and chairman of the digital, culture, media and sport committee, revealed MPs may not be satisfied with the new deal.

She said: “There will be many MPs on the back benches who will be deeply disappointed that we are looking at just a two-year freeze in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.”

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