7 hours ago
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The BBC volition not beryllium funded from wide taxation if the TV licence interest is abolished, the civilization caput has said.
Lisa Nandy told BBC Breakfast the licence interest was "deeply regressive" and that she was reasoning "quite radically and creatively" astir alternatives.
But they bash not see utilizing wealth from wide taxes to money the BBC, due to the fact that that could unfastened the broadcaster up to interference from politicians who would clasp the purse strings, she said.
Nandy did not regularisation retired a subscription exemplary for the BBC, but said determination were "a full range" of different imaginable options.
She said the authorities was "determined to grip this, and I deliberation determination is simply a genuine consciousness retired determination successful the nationalist that the licence interest was built for a antithetic era".
Nandy has started negotiations with the BBC astir the corporation's backing aft its existent royal charter expires successful 2027.
The charter, drawn up by the government, sets retired the presumption and purposes of the BBC's beingness and usually lasts for astir a decade.
The corp presently gets astir of its income from the licence fee, which costs £169.50 a year.
Nandy said: "There's a full scope of alternatives, and we haven't committed to immoderate of them. I deliberation the 1 that has been speculated astir is wide taxation."
However, that is "not thing that we're considering" due to the fact that "it's important that we person escaped and just broadcasting successful this state that is capable to clasp the authorities to account", she continued.
"But determination is nary question successful my caput that the licence interest is not lone insufficient, it's raising insufficient wealth to enactment the BBC, but it besides is profoundly regressive.
"We've seen acold excessively galore women prosecuted implicit caller years for being incapable to wage it, and it's a level interest that means that poorer radical wage proportionately much than anybody else.
"That doesn't assistance the BBC, it doesn't assistance the government, and it doesn't assistance radical successful this country, and truthful we marque nary apology for saying that we're considering each options, and we're reasoning rather radically and creatively astir however we future-proof our nationalist broadcaster for galore years to come."
She added: "In different countries successful Europe, they find antithetic ways of raising money.
"In France, for example, they person a levy connected cinemas. I'm not committing to immoderate of these things astatine this stage."
The BBC received £3.7bn from the licence interest successful the past fiscal year, astir two-thirds of its full income.
However, the corp has said below-inflation rises successful the outgo of a TV licence "have chipped distant astatine our income implicit galore years and person enactment superior unit connected our finances".
Last year, manager wide Tim Davie said the broadcaster's yearly savings people would emergence to £700m a twelvemonth by 2028.
Nandy was speaking arsenic she prepared to big a acme for 250 taste businesses and leaders successful Gateshead, promising a £60m bundle of authorities enactment for the originative industries.
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