David Cameron may have once described cuts to the BBC as “delicious” but he’s less enthusiastic when said cuts affect his constituency. The PM has intervened to persuade the Beeb not to axe its local news service in Oxford, which includes his constituency of Witney.
Cameron expressed his displeasure at the cuts in a letter to BBC director general Mark Thompson, who also lives in Oxfordshire. Despite previously declaring that it would not provide a “running commentary” on the cuts, the BBC has now announced that it will protect its regional service in Oxford, as well as those in Cambridge and the Channel Islands, although it insists this decision was taken before the PM’s intervention. In his response to Cameron, Thompson said:
Your constituents are correct that there has been a suggestion from some of my colleagues that, in order to save money, we should withdraw those regional services – based in Cambridge, Oxford and the Channel Islands – which serve the smallest populations.
Like you however, I believe that these services are very valuable, particularly in the light of ITV’s retreat from regional broadcasting, and that to withdraw them would be a retrograde step. I do not intend to include this idea in the final package of proposals that I submit to the BBC Trust.
Last year, Cameron memorably declared that “we’re all in it together, including, deliciously, the BBC”. In response to a question from Newnight’s Michael Crick, who asked the PM how he would justify an EU budget rise of 2.9 per cent to the British public, Cameron said:
I would explain patiently – as I hope you will on Newsnight – that we were facing a 6 per cent increase. We’ve pegged that back to 2.9 per cent.
At the same time, I will say, ‘We’re all in it together, including, deliciously, the BBC, who in another negotiation agreed a licence fee freeze for six years. So what is good for the EU is good for the BBC.’
Crick butted in: “We’re getting a freeze. We’d love 2.9 per cent.” To which Cameron replied: “Well, I’m afraid it’s going to be a freeze. I am sure there are some savings available.” In fact, the licence fee freeze and the decision to force the BBC to bear the cost of funding the World Service and S4C means the corporation faces a real-terms cut of 16 per cent.
Update: To its credit, the government has announced this morning that an extra £2.2m will be given to the BBC to fund its Arabic Service. Clearly the cuts aren’t as “delicious” as Cameron once thought.
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