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Government under fire over alleged BBC licence fee talks with News Corp
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The government has been urged to look again at the BBC's funding and reveal the extent to which it was discussed with News Corporation before last year's shotgun licence fee settlement. John McDonnell MP claimed there were “undue influences from the Murdoch empire" in the hastily agreed settlement that saw the licence fee frozen for six years and the corporation take on a greater financial burden, including the BBC World Service.
Asked to provide evidence to back up his claims, McDonnell, the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington in west London, said: “That's one of the issues we have been raising with ministers.
“It would be helpful if ministers could publish the information about the number of times that they met with the Murdoch empire to discuss the licence fee itself.
“Up until now we have not received any detailed information from them about the times that they met with Murdoch and the times they discussed the licence fee settlement."
McDonnell said James Murdoch, the under-fire deputy chief operating officer at News Corporation, had made it “quite clear" that he wanted a reduced licence fee so that News Corporation could “exploit and develop their own empire at the expense of the BBC".
Culture minister Ed Vaizey, responding to McDonnell in a Westminster Hall debate about the future of BBC local radio on Wednesday, said: “I have never discussed the licence fee with Rupert Murdoch or the Murdoch empire.
“Funnily enough the most influential discussion I had was with the Guardian Media Group [publisher of MediaGuardian.co.uk] who complained about the size of the BBC website."
McDonnell responded: “To be frank I think those discussions around the BBC licence fee that took place with News International were above the honourable member's pay grade."
Shadow culture minister Helen Goodman said she hoped Vaizey would not “wash his hands" of the £700m programme of cuts being driven through at the BBC, with the loss of 2,000 jobs, as a result of last year's funding agreement.
She said the growth in inflation since the deal was struck in October last year meant the licence fee was being eroded even faster than anticipated.
“Since the chancellor of the exchequer has not kept inflation under control we can all work out the cuts are going to be much larger. Does he not see there is a case for readdressing the size of the licence fee?"
But Vaizey described the settlement as a “good deal" for the BBC. “There is not a single other media group in the country that has certainty of funding going to 20116/17. That is an enormous luxury."
MPs accused him of being “lighthearted" about their concerns for local radio – Vaizey used one reply to come up with a jingle for BBC Radio Oxford – and former Labour culture minister Ben Bradshaw said he was acting like a cheerleader for the corporation.
“With due respect to the minister his speech could have been written by BBC management," said Bradshaw.
“My job is to be a candid friend of the BBC, I don't apologise for supporting it," said Vaizey.
“It is certainly not my job to tell the BBC what to do, it would be quite wrong for a minister to tell the BBC to close down a particular service or save a particular service. That is a job for BBC management."
© 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
DATELINE: 27 October, 2011
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