Rishi and other top ministers rebelled against the plans to eliminate the BBC licence fee, even though Boris Johnson supported the idea.
The Chancellor is said to have hit out at the speed of the announcement about the £159 annual levy, which was revealed in the Mail on Sunday.
According to the FT, he is also unhappy with Nadine Dorries, Culture Secretary. He was not consulted with ministers prior to discussing a financial issue.
Ms. Dorries posted on Saturday that the fee settlement up to 2027 was ‘the last.’
She announced Monday that she would simply review the settlement and had reduced her language in a Commons announcement.
The Sun today said that Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey also voiced her unhappiness at Cabinet yesterday over the way the announcement – which has pensions implications – was handled.
This was one of many right-wing populist measures that were announced under Operation Red Meat. It was rushed to help the PM in his anger at Partygate.
Johnson is enthusiastically supporting the abolition of the licensure fee prior to the end of this decade.
The Sun reported he told Cabinet: ‘we can’t expect people to keep paying a licence fee just because they own a TV’.
The Chancellor is said to have hit out at the speed of the announcement about the £159 annual levy, which was revealed in the Mail on Sunday.
Therese Colffey, Work and Pensions Secretary, also expressed disappointment at Cabinet yesterday regarding the manner in which the announcement (which has potential implications for pensions) was handled
Ms. Dorries posted on Saturday that the fee settlement up to 2027 was ‘the last.’
She announced Monday that she would simply review the settlement and had reduced her language in a Commons announcement.
Ms Dorries on Monday confirmed that the licence fee would be frozen at £159 for two years, until 2024, after which it will rise in line with inflation for the following four years.
She told MPs that the corporation needed to ‘address issues around impartiality and group think’ and also added it was ‘time to begin asking those really serious questions about the long-term funding model of the BBC’.
Although she stated that it was time to “discuss, debate and fund new methods” for the BBC, she did not provide details about the Government’s preference.
These licence fee plans take effect April 1, 2022. Later this year, the Government will consider the overall governance of and regulation of BBC as part of the midterm Review of BBC Charter.
According to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, it will be looking to the future. Given the changes in broadcasting due to streaming and video-on-demand, the Government will “separately examine whether or not the BBC licence fee will continue to provide a sustainable funding source”.
Last night the BBC’s director-general refused to rule out scrapping BBC Four and warned ‘everything’s on the agenda’ after revealing the freeze will result in a £285million gap in funding for the corporation.
Tim Davie said the income from the fee by 2027 will be about £4.2billion based on the corporation’s assumptions around inflation and admitted that the settlement ‘will affect our frontline output, there’s no doubt about that’.
Mr Davie was asked whether BBC Four would survive, and said: ‘I’m not going to make specific recommendations now, we are going to take stock, we’ve got the settlement – that gives us certainty now. It will be clear decisions. We just need to get through the year. It’s prudent to plan your finances.
When Mr Davie was interviewed by Nick Robinson on BBC Radio 4, he said, “I believe everything’s on our agenda.”
When asked if ‘channels could go,’ he replied: “Absolutely.” Mr Davie added: ‘People, clearly and rightly, are worried about what the £285million cut in terms of two years flat brings, but also, as an organisation, we need to reshape ourselves for a digital age. Media market changes are extremely rapid.