MPs and peers from across the political divide have stepped-up calls to save pensioners' free TV licences amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Over-75s were due to be stripped of their lifeline on June 1, but were given a two-month reprieve as the coronavirus outbreak gripped Britain.
Westminster's cross-party group for Ageing and Older People has written to Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and Work and Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey demanding free TV licences are preserved.
The letter has been signed by nearly two dozen Labour, SNP and Lib Dem politicians.
Group chairman Lord George Foulkes said: “This is now even more urgent than before.
“The coronavirus pandemic has underlined how TV is vital for keeping older people informed of the dangers and how to avoid them, as well as for other information and entertainment.
“Older people living alone are particularly vulnerable and some rely completely on their TV as a companion and window to the outside world.
“The Government has accepted, to some extent, this argument by postponing the planned withdrawal to August 1 but it should now follow this up by abandoning it completely and restoring the current position where the Government fund it as a social need rather than expecting the BBC to cover the cost.”
Over-75s were due to lose their entitlement to the £157.50-a-year lifeline within weeks.
But corporation chiefs and the Government announced curbs would be delayed for two months so the elderly did not face extra turmoil during the Covid-19 crisis.
BBC Director-General Lord Hall this month(MAR) left the door open to a further delay.
He said: "I think on all of this ... we must just keep doing what we think is right each day and keep everything under review."
The Conservatives pledged at the 2017 election to protect free licences for the over-75s for the rest of that Parliament, which was due to run until 2022.
But the BBC had already been handed responsibility for funding the lifeline from June, under a deal stitched up in 2015.
The Beeb says continuing to offer the benefit for all over-75s would cost £745million - a fifth of its budget - by 2021-22.
Restrictions it has drawn-up mean only over-75s receiving Pension Credit will be eligible for free licences - meaning 80%, some 3.7 million OAPs, will have to pay.
The Mirror is campaigning to save the lifeline, with more than 18,000 readers backing the fight by completing coupons in the paper.
