TV Licences for over-75S

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 2:46 pm on 8th May 2019.

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Photo of John Whittingdale John Whittingdale Conservative, Maldon 2:46 pm, 8th May 2019

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend, who was also a key player at that time as a Minister in the Department. He is absolutely right. I mentioned two of the BBC’s requests at the time—the unfreezing of the licence fee and the closure of the loophole—but he is correct to point out that the BBC had always been unhappy about the top-slicing of the licence fee to fund broadband, which it saw as far removed from the purpose of the licence fee. That was another agreement we reached with the BBC, which I think was why the BBC felt that it was a fair and proper settlement.