Television Licences (Over-75s)

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 21 November 2019.

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Photo of Jeremy Balfour Jeremy Balfour Conservative

That is an interesting point, which I will come back to it in closing in a few moments. We need to look at why people are not taking up benefits, but I am not sure that that is a debate for today.

Where there is disagreement between my party and the rest of the chamber is in regard to what happened in July 2015. With respect, I think that the cabinet secretary and others are trying to rewrite history slightly. Lord Hall, whom I have met once or twice, is no mean negotiator. He is not some kind of pussycat that simply rolls over and does whatever people want him to do. Lord Hall went in to renegotiate the charter and, rightly, to get the best deal possible for the corporation. There was no criticism of this by Lord Hall or others back in 2015. In fact, there are still those in the BBC who say that it is the best deal that they could get.