Stealing the free TV licences of more than 11,000 pensioners aged 100 or more is the venerable tip of a scandalous iceberg.
The promise-breaking callous Tories are behind this outrage but the BBC must refuse to do the Conservative Government’s dirty work or Auntie will be contaminated forever.
When Theresa May in the 2017 election manifesto pledge the party would maintain pensioner benefits, Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt will be equally guilty of flouting a solemn pledge if this press ahead with the great TV licence robbery when Prime Minister next week.
The centenarians after a life of graft and surviving the Second World War deserve their free licences and to start charging them £154.50 a year is elevate Tory austerity over fairness and decency.
We’ve argued before and we’ll state again that BBC boss Tony Hall was unwise, to put it mildly, when under pressure he agreed to the Government’s demand that the broadcaster become a branch office of the Department of Work and Pensions - taking responsibility for the £745-million cost of a lifeline introduced by Labour’s Gordon Brown.
We urge May in her last few days in Downing Street to honour her party’s promise and fund licences for 3.7m over-75s, including the centenarians, about to be clobbered.
