A blind D-Day veteran has come out in support of well off pensioners paying the BBC licence fee.

Eddie Gaines, 94, says there are ‘plenty of rich people’ who can afford it after confirming he is exempt from paying the fee as he can claim Pension Credit.

Pension Credit is a vital benefit for pensioners who struggle financially, topping up their income and guaranteeing them a minimum amount to live on.

Only pensioners from low-income households, like Mr Gaines, will still get free TV licences, but up to 3.7 million people over 75 now face paying the £154.50 annual fee.

It has caused outrage across the UK, with more than 300,000 people signing Age UK’s petition urging the BBC to abandon the plan.

However, Mr Gaines said it is a good idea, adding: ‘There is plenty of rich people who are quite able to pay the TV licence.’

When told about the petition, Mr Gaines said: ‘I suspect another 250,000 are quite well off anyway.

‘A lot of pensioners are better off now than they were for years.’

Last week, Mr Gaines, from Poole, Dorset, travelled to France with fellow D-Day veterans on board a Royal British Legion-chartered ship, to mark the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings.

He said it was a ‘fantastic’ experience but sadly came home to the news this week that a friend a fellow member of Blind Veterans UK had passed away.

Mr Gaines was just 19 when he landed onto Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, along with 35 tonnes of TNT.

Thousands of American soldiers were killed on the beach and Mr Gaines has been haunted by the memory ever since.

It emerged yesterday that some of his fellow D-Day veterans will have to pay the fee, despite being honoured last week for their role in the Normandy invasion.

The daughter of Thomas Cuthbert, who flirted with Melania Trump in front of the US president, called into Good Morning Britain yesterday to reveal her dad would lose his BBC concessions.

She told the show: ‘He’s going to be pretty angry – the veterans, all the elderly depend on the TV. It’s their lifeline.

‘It makes you wonder what they are going to do next to them.’

GMB host Piers Morgan stepped in to say he would cover the cost ‘whatever happens’.

He said: ‘I will pay his TV licence as long as he needs, whatever happens. He moved us so much.’

Appearing on the same show today, Second World War veteran Victor Gregg, 99, said he will be exempt from paying the fee through Pension Credit, but hit out at the BBC.

He said: ‘I’ve always admired the BBC for its supposed integrity but coming out with this.

‘It’s only two days ago they were patting all these old people on the head and calling them heroes.’

He continued: ‘This generation which has saved the world while on the other end, they’re robbing the piggy bank.

‘The people they’re attacking is a generation that has lived between two wars. My generation and a generation of my sons and daughters.’

Funding the free licences, which have been available to all over-75s for nearly two decades, is due to be transferred from the Government to the BBC next year as part of an agreement hammered out in 2015.

The corporation has said free licences will be means-tested under a new scheme that intends to protect programming while dealing with the extra funding burden.

In a joint statement released on Monday, the BBC’s chairman, Sir David Clementi, and Director General Tony Hall said continuing the Government’s scheme would have had a ‘severe impact’ on services and that the new model ‘represents the fairest possible outcome’.

A Government spokesperson added: ‘We’re very disappointed with this decision – we’ve been clear that we want and expect the BBC to continue this concession.

‘People across the country value television as a way to stay connected, and we want the BBC to look at further ways to support older people.

‘Taxpayers want to see the BBC using its substantial licence fee income in an appropriate way to ensure it delivers for UK audiences, which includes showing restraint on salaries for senior staff.’

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