New British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has said there will be no changes to the funding of the BBC until at least 2027.
“We are committed in our manifesto to the BBC and to the licensing scheme,” the prime minister said during his trip to Washington last week. “There’s going to be some more thought between now and 2027, but we are committed.”
The BBC has seen several years of cuts under the Conservative administration, which had previously suggested that it would abolish the Licence Fee when the BBC’s Charter was next due for renewal in 2028.
In its place would have come a voluntary funding model that had the potential to bring further reductions in services.
The licence fee was frozen at £159 for two years by Nadine Dorries when she was culture secretary in Boris Johnson’s government.
BBC director-general Tim Davie said in March that the Corporation would look at ways of reforming the Licence Fee.
