……..unless it rebuilds public trust, senior Tory minister warns, more spin from the Lib-Lab-Con.
The BBC could face a cut in the licence fee if it does not tackle a ‘culture’ of secrecy and rebuild public trust, a senior Tory minister has warned.
Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps claimed the corporation might even lose its exclusive right to the £3.6billion raised by the annual fee unless it reforms its policy.
He challenged BBC chiefs to undertake dramatic changes, including rebuilding public trust and becoming more transparent.
He also said there was a ‘question of credibility’ over the organisation’s ‘fairness’ in its reporting of politics.
In recent years, the BBC has been hit by a series of controversies and accusations – including the Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall scandals, rows over stars’ salaries and disclosed pay-offs to senior executives.
It has also been accused of including bias in its reports.
Mr Shapps said the £145.50 licence fee – paid by every household with a television in the UK – would be ‘too much’ if the BBC failed to reform.
With the BBC’s royal charter due to expire in 2016, he suggested there were ‘lots of different ways’ in which employees could use licence fee-payers’ money to fund public service broadcasting.
‘They have ended up working in this culture which is buried in the last century, which is “we are the BBC, we do what we like, we don’t have to be too accountable”,’ Mr Shapps told The Sunday Telegraph.
‘But they are raising £3.6 billion through the licence fee, which is a tax, and, quite rightly, the public wants to have sight of how the money is spent.
‘Things like the pay-offs have really caused concern, as have, obviously, things like Savile and Hall and the culture that goes around that. I think it is one of too much secrecy.’
Mr Shapps, who is not a full Cabinet member but attends weekly meetings at 10 Downing Street, said the BBC’s director general Tony Hall should consider opening the corporation’s books to full inspection by the National Audit Office.
This would see the corporation publish all expenditure over £500 – including stars’ salaries – and become fully open to Freedom of Information laws.
He added that the only way the licence payers would gain ‘confidence’ in the BBC is if the corporation goes for a ‘much more transparent, open deliberate policy’.
‘If they do that they can make sure they win back public trust,’ said Mr Shapps.
‘If they don’t, they are in danger of frittering away Auntie’s public trust that has been built over a long time.’
Mr Shapps said he was ready to contemplate change in the system, which has so far seen the BBC take all of the £3.6billion raised through the licence fee.
‘I would say that £145.50 is quite a lot to pay for everyone in the country who has a TV,’ he said.
‘It is too much if we don’t see the kind of reforms that all public organisations are used to that the BBC isn’t having to engage with as much as it could do.’
Last night, a BBC spokesman told The Sunday Telegraph: ‘Mr Shapps is right that transparency is key to the future of the BBC. So is its freedom from political pressure.’
Obviously if the BBC funded itself they wouldn’t have to worry about ‘political pressure’