Licence Fee Will Be Axed Nadine Dorries Wants New BBC Funding Model

Dorries: Next BBC licence fee deal ‘will be the last’

- Martyn Brown

CULTURE Secretary Nadine Dorries says the BBC licence fee will be axed, with the broadcaster funded in some other way.

She has also given hope to over-75s who were forced to fork out to watch.

In a reference to the controversial decision to end free licences for older viewers, Ms Dorries said: “The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors are over”.

She revealed her plans via Twitter yesterday morning, declaring: “This licence fee announcement will be the last.”

This came after it emerged the licence fee will be frozen for two years from April.

It is worth £3.2billion annually to the BBC after rising from £157.50 to £159 last year, having tracked inflation since 2017.

Under the BBC’s Royal Charter, the moneyspinner is guaranteed until at least December 31, 2027. After that the way the national broadcaster is paid for will be decided by the Government.

A BBC source said of the fee freeze: “Anything less than inflation would put unacceptable pressure on the BBC finances after years of cuts.”

The source added there were “very good reasons for investing in what the BBC can do for the British public and the creative industries and the UK around the world”.

An ally of Ms Dorries said: “There will be a lot of anguished noises about how [a fee freeze] will hit popular programmes but they can learn to cut waste like any other business. This will be the last BBC licence fee negotiation ever.