Labour’s Chris Bryant has challenged the culture secretary’s claim that passing the cost of TV licences for over-75s to the BBC was purely driven by the need to reduce the national deficit, arguing that the government has pledged to clear it before the corporation even takes on the full £750m burden.
John Whittingdale made the assertion in an interview at the Guardian Edinburgh International TV Festival on Wednesday.
He said there was a “very obvious” reason for making the BBC take on the £750m cost.
“The government has a priority, which is getting the deficit down, and this represents a significant contribution to the aim,” Whittingdale said. “It was to do with the budget and the economy, it was not an attack on the BBC.”
However, Bryant, the shadow culture secretary, said the fact that there is not meant to be a deficit by 2019/2020, a year before the BBC takes full responsibility for the costs, proves that the government’s true motivation is an “ideological, spiteful” drive to attack the corporation.
“According to your letter to the BBC, the cost of free licences is fully transferred only in 2020/2021,” Bryant wrote. “According to George Osborne’s budget, the deficit is supposed to be gone by 2019/20. And in 2020/2021 there will be surpluses.”
Osborne said Whittingdale’s letter stating the terms of the deal shows the government will support the BBC with £468m toward the £750m cost in 2018/19, then £247m in 2019/2020, before the corporation takes on the full burden in 2020/2021.
Bryant argues that the bulk of the transfer of costs to the BBC is “when we’re supposed to be in surplus”.
“Transferring this cost, reducing the BBC’s budget by a fifth, therefore makes little to no contribution to reducing the deficit,” he said. “You can’t trick the public. It’s abundantly clear that you are motivated by an ideological, spiteful drive to diminish our national broadcaster.”
A BBC spokesman defended the deal saying that it was the “right thing to do” in order to gain wider concessions.
“As we’ve said before this was a tough deal but in the circumstances it was the right thing to do when the government made significant concessions,” said the spokesman. “We welcome the culture secretary’s positive comments about the BBC this week but like everyone else we’ll judge the government by its actions.”
