Labour’s Maria Eagle has said the BBC has been put in an “intolerable position” by the EU referendum, claiming that renewal of its charter has been delayed by culture secretary John Whittingdale’s backing for Brexit.
The shadow culture secretary, speaking to the creative industries in Liverpool on Thursday, said the EU vote was a damaging distraction at a time when the future scope and funding of the BBC was being decided.
Whittingdale, who will decide the future of the BBC, is also a prominent leader of the Brexit campaign, and with the BBC’s news reporting of the issue likely to come under forensic examination, observers have suggested it puts both him and the corporation in a perilous position.
“He [Whittingdale] is spending more time arguing we should vote to leave the EU than doing his job in the government – the publication of the white paper on BBC charter renewal now seems to be being put off until the end of July because he can’t find the time to do his job,” said Eagle.
“He does seem to be able to find time to meet the BBC to try and bully them into being pro-Brexit though.
“The BBC have Tory cabinet ministers bullying them on both sides of the referendum argument – an intolerable position for them in the middle of charter renewal. These are the people who are deciding the future of the BBC.”
The government’s white paper on the future of the BBC is likely to be delayed until after the EU vote on 23 June.
