NADINE DORRIES: I froze the licence fee. Now Rishi Sunak MUST go further

The BBC announced last week that it was to slash staff levels on its long-running, flagship current affairs show Newsnight (from 57 to 23).

It will shave ten minutes off the running schedule, and focus on studio-based debates.

The biggest shock to me, and I imagine many others, was that Newsnight had 57 staff members! Will the dwindling numbers who watch even notice their departure? I doubt it.

The more important question is this: is it right that a programme long in decline with an audience of less than 300,000 was permitted a reported budget of some £13 million?

According to the Corporation’s News CEO, Deborah Turness, the impact of inflation and a frozen licence fee means that the BBC is facing a £500 million funding hole, and the news division had to ‘carry its share’.

NADINE DORRIES: The BBC spends more than £600,000 of taxpayers’ money on staff responsible for ‘diversity and inclusion’ and funds niche channels that few people watch or listen to

Rishi Sunak is likely to block next year’s expected hike in the licence fee following a two-year freeze (at £159) — imposed by yours truly while serving as Culture Secretary — for a more moderate figure.

When I introduced the freeze, the agreement was that the licence fee would rise in line with inflation for the final three years leading up to the Royal Charter renewal in 2027. However, at the time no one could have predicted that Putin would invade Ukraine, that world energy and wheat prices would rise dramatically along with global interest rates — and inflation.

If the licence fee rises in line with the consumer prices index (9 per cent to September 2023) as per the agreement, that will add nearly £15 to the fee next year, taking it to £173.30 — the biggest increase in 40 years. Hence the PM telling the Beeb to cut costs and the suggestion that ministers will intervene to limit a rise in the licence fee. But, will they?

In my view there should be no discussion around any increase in the licence fee. Since it was frozen almost two years ago, it’s amazing how the BBC has managed to implement efficiency-saving cuts — Newsnight is a case in point. But it still has a long way to go to become more competitive in the broadcasting marketplace without relying on taxpayers struggling to make ends meet.

NADINE DORRIES: Rishi Sunak is likely to block next year’s expected hike in the licence fee following a two-year freeze (at £159) for a more moderate figure

The BBC spends more than £600,000 of taxpayers’ money on staff responsible for ‘diversity and inclusion’ and funds niche channels that few people watch or listen to. On top of that it pursues a Leftist agenda in its reporting and still refuses to call Hamas terrorists.

No wonder the number of people refusing to buy a licence rose by half a million last year. And as more of us access television online via streaming services — for which we don’t require a licence — that number will only increase.

My licence-fee freeze was intended as a stop-gap measure, while we undertook a review of how the BBC was funded in order to find a fairer way of paying for the service and finally end what is a regressive tax.

I made no secret of my desire to abolish it — yet not only the Left-wing Press, but many Tory and Labour MPs, the Treasury and the majority of Ministers around the Cabinet table came out in force against me. The most resistant was the now Prime Minister himself.

I asked myself, is the battle worth it? And, of course, the answer was yes. The week I resigned, the review of the licence fee was ready to launch. Sadly it has been kicked into the long grass.

It would take four years to transition to a new funding model and I fear the delay means it is almost certain the licence fee is here to stay.

Lucy Frazer, now Culture Secretary, should take up the baton and commit to finding a fairer funding model that doesn’t ask citizens to pay for an increasingly woke organisation which is out of step with the values of those it purports to serve.

She will face stiff opposition, including from No 10. She is going to need to dig deep and remember who she represents.

If the British public are happy to pay for Netflix on subscription, then give them the option to pay for the BBC similarly. There are other models out there to explore, too. That way the power is in the hands of the consumer. Over to you, Lucy. Make it happen.

Does anyone else have two types of potatoes with their Christmas dinner? We have roast spuds and we have mashed, too. I know: It’s mad. You wouldn’t have two types of sprouts, would you? I think my Irish heritage may be a factor. Incidentally, I’ve been told there’s a potato called Nadine. It has good ‘scab resistance’ apparently, but is described as ‘waxy and wet’. No chance of it gracing my table, as roastie or mash, this Christmas! 

George has the tax factor!

Gorgeous George Clooney braved the red carpet in a downpour in London on Sunday and won yet more hearts as, chivalrous as ever, he held an umbrella over his beautiful, clever wife Amal.

The couple were at the screening of the film he’s directed, The Boys In The Boat. It tells the story of the University of Washington’s rowing team going for gold in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin — but was filmed at the Cotswold Water Park. 

This is undoubtedly because of the UK’s generous film tax-relief scheme which allows companies that film here to claim a cash tax rebate of up to 25 per cent.

NADINE DORRIES: George Clooney braved the red carpet in a downpour in London and won yet more hearts as, chivalrous as ever, he held an umbrella over his beautiful, clever wife Amal

It’s why we are the European hub for film-making and, on occasion, have more big screen works-in-progress than Hollywood.

It would be nice if a beneficiary of the scheme — George, are you reading this? — could, for once, credit the Government for its largesse. If they don’t value it, they could one day lose it.

Liz’s welcome bid to protect female spaces 

Liz Truss is bringing a Private Members’ Bill before Parliament this week. It would prevent under-18s accessing hormone therapy (such as puberty blockers), and prevent the state from recognising social transitioning by those under the legal age of adulthood.

It would also protect single-sex spaces (female lavatories and changing rooms etc) from being used by transgender women who have transitioned from male.

NADINE DORRIES: Liz’s Bill would do much to remind voters there are still some Conservative MPs on the right of the party battling against the worst excesses of wokery engulfing society

A Private Members’ Bill, which is awarded to MPs in a ballot, rarely becomes law, sadly. 

Yet Liz’s Bill would do much to remind voters there are still some Conservative MPs on the right of the party battling away against the worst excesses of wokery now engulfing society.

And there’s one thing we can be sure of; if Labour do win power, it will be a battle lost for the foreseeable future.

Off with their names

Is anyone really surprised that Harry and Meghan are said to be off the guest list for the society wedding of 2024?

Hugh Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster, has long been close to both William and Harry, and is godfather to both Prince George and reportedly the Sussexes’ son, Archie. But it’s the Prince and Princess of Wales who are expected at Chester Cathedral when Hugh weds fiancee Olivia next June.Family rifts and awkwardness aside, Hugh, one of Britain’s richest men with a fortune of more than £9 billion, surely wouldn’t want to run the risk of finding himself discussed in an interview with Oprah, featuring on a Meghan podcast — or even turning up in the pages of Omid Scobie’s next book.

Keir Starmer, aka Sir Flip Flop, has sent everyone into a tail spin on the Right and Left with his newly discovered admiration of the Iron Lady. 

Throughout his front-bench career, Starmer has lambasted Margaret Thatcher and her policies. Now he’s lauding her for unleashing ‘entrepreneurialism’ in Britain. 

That’s a huge stretch for a man who, not so long ago, was backing the ultimate socialist, Jeremy Corbyn.

NADINE DORRIES: Keir Starmer, aka Sir Flip Flop, has sent everyone into a tail spin on the Right and Left with his newly discovered admiration of the Iron Lady

By citing Thatcher as an inspiration, Starmer is seeking to draw in even more disillusioned Tory voters while further alienating what remains of the pesky, Corbynista rump in his own party. 

Cynical, yes. But for him, it’s a win-win strategy — and recent poll figures are in his favour.

Champion jockey Frankie Dettori is the first contestant to be evicted from I’m A Celebrity — and not the irritating and divisive YouTuber Nella Rose, whom everyone was expecting to be voted out by the public. 

It was left to Nigel Farage to voice what fellow campers and those of us watching at home were thinking when the result was announced: ‘It’s a fix, Frankie.’ 

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