Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has indicated that the government is considering a “mixed funding model” for the BBC, combining the existing licence fee with commercial and subscription revenues.
Speaking at a Times Radio and Sunday Times event during the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Nandy said she was examining “a whole range of options” for the BBC’s next charter period, but ruled out funding the broadcaster through general taxation, warning it would leave the corporation vulnerable to political interference.
“The only thing we’ve ruled out is general taxation,” she said. “If you had a grant from government each year, it would be far too easy for politicians to pull that funding and use it as a stick to beat the BBC with. It’s essential we protect the BBC from that.”
Nandy described the BBC as one of Britain’s two most important national institutions – alongside the NHS – and said any reform must preserve its independence and universality.
The licence fee currently provides around £3.7 billion, or 65 per cent of the BBC’s income, though evasion has risen above 10 per cent and payers dropped by 300,000 last year.
The review comes ahead of the next Royal Charter renewal in 2027, with the terms of reference expected before the end of this year.
Nandy’s comments suggest the BBC could move towards a hybrid model combining public funding with commercial partnerships and paid access to some premium content — similar to approaches already adopted by European broadcasters such as Germany’s ARD/ZDF, which replaced the licence fee with a universal household levy.
She also said the BBC must improve accountability following recent editorial controversies, and confirmed plans to ban serving politicians from presenting news programmes, arguing that channels such as GB News blur the line between impartial reporting and political commentary.
Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform which has topped several recent opinion polls, continues to present a nightly show on GN Mews.
Despite her criticism of recent BBC leadership, Nandy said Director-General Tim Davie had “stepped up” in response to concerns, adding that the corporation “matters too much” to be undermined by lapses in editorial standards.
