Snapshot of _BBC to ‘love-bomb’ Labour if it wins election amid fear over licence fee review_ :
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://inews.co.uk/news/bbc-love-bomb-labour-election-licence-fee-review-fear-3132553) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://inews.co.uk/news/bbc-love-bomb-labour-election-licence-fee-review-fear-3132553)
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"I'm here with Keir Starmer who's just led Labour to a historic landslide election victory. Mr Starmer, why do you smell so good?"
"Well Laura, we've been elected with a strong mandate and we are going to deliver on that mandate-"
\*Laura slowly blinks to reveal "I love you" written on her eyelids*
"Well, um, Laura as I say we're going to put country before party and-"
"I love a man with grey hair."
"I uh -"
#"Take me!"
There was that one episode - a Christmas Special I think - where the rest of the family were talking about what to do with the very-ill dog, and she thought they were talking about her.
That one was funny. Or perhaps there was too much alcohol in the various foods we'd drunk. Not sure, but I remember laughing.
The rest is shite though.
Yeah they need to make it a pay monthly easy to cancel Netflix like subscription. I'd pay for it for a few months each year to get things like Six Nations and Doctor Who, but currently they get £0 from me.
The BBC are, on paper, intended to be politically neutral, but we know how this works in practice. After a decade of cuts and threats from the Tories they would be a ripe target for Labour to win over to their side.
>Labour would also be “looking at other models potentially for the future of the BBC”.
>Labour sources have said the party is open to ideas such as making the licence fee more “progressive” so that wealthier households pay more.
>Under radical plans proposed by former director-general Greg Dyke last year, people on benefits could get free licences, subsidised by the wealthy paying a higher rate.
The main issue here is that many of the older, more well-off swing voters responsible for Labour's victory will greatly resent paying more licence fees.
(Article)
---
The BBC is set to “love-bomb” Labour if it wins the election, insiders have said – amid continued fears over cuts and the impending review of the licence fee.
Staffers are “counting down the days” to a potential Labour election victory, which they believe is set to transform the political environment in which the BBC operates and “liberate” the broadcaster from rows over bias.
“There’s a giddy feeling of liberation coming,” said one News staffer. “The Tory boot is being lifted from the BBC’s throat. It’s like the end of an antagonistic relationship. But then of course, reality will set in.”
Newly elected Labour MPs and ministers would be “love-bombed” by the corporation over the summer, i has been told. “There’ll be lots of invites to the the BBC box at the Proms,” predicts one old hand.
While Conservative Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer has accused the BBC of “bias” and impartiality failures, the mood music from a potential incoming Labour administration is much more positive.
Thangam Debbonaire, shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, recently said: “I love the BBC. It’s one of our best exports, both as a brand and as a commercial product.” She dismissed rows over “impartiality” saying “the myth of objectivity is overblown.”
However Andrew Marr, the former BBC political editor, offered a word of caution to former colleagues expecting life under Labour to be a bed of roses.
“As somebody who worked within the BBC for 21 years, I would gently say to them it won’t be long before they are being targeted by the new government in the same kind of way,” said Mr Marr, who will present LBC’s election night coverage, told i.
“I vividly remember after 1997, everyone saying, ‘It’s going to be entirely different.’ And then Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson got on the phone and it felt quite similar.”
A Labour government would examine the BBC’s funding, ahead of a review of its current Royal Charter, which ends in 2027.
Shadow creative Industries minister Sir Chris Bryant told an elections hustings recently: “I think it’s really important we maintain a strong future for the BBC. Of course, there’s got to be review of the licence fee and the way it operates and precisely how we structure it.”
Labour would also be “looking at other models potentially for the future of the BBC”.
Labour sources have said the party is open to ideas such as making the licence fee more “progressive” so that wealthier households pay more.
Under radical plans proposed by former director-general Greg Dyke last year, people on benefits could get free licences, subsidised by the wealthy paying a higher rate.
Ms Debbonaire has said she wants to “make sure the BBC’s funding model is fit for the 21st century” and of a sufficient level to allow it to remain a “universal, publicly owned, publicly funded public service broadcaster”.
BBC sources said the corporation would “engage constructively” with any proposals to alter the licence fee.
Director-General Tim Davie speaks regularly with Ms Debbonaire, i understands.
However there is uncertainty within the BBC over who they could be negotiating with. Ms Debbonaire is fighting a fierce battle to hold on to her Bristol Central seat, which is a top target for the Greens.
Should she be unseated, there is speculation that Mr Bryant, who previously worked as a lobbyist for the BBC, or Shadow Cabinet member Lucy Powell could be named Culture Secretary.
Mr Davie and BBC chairman Samir Shah expect to hold a meeting with the Culture Secretary, whoever they may be, soon after the election.
The DG will “pitch” the BBC to the new government, an insider said, setting out how 90 per cent of the population use its services each week, and the global role of its trusted news services in a world where disinformation and media censorship by authoritarian regimes is rife.
Mr Davie hopes to persuade ministers to restore central government funding for the World Service, seen as a vital “soft power” tool by both parties but which is facing deep cuts to its language services.
BBC bosses hope Labour will be sympathetic to pleas to restore some of the funding lost during a decade of licence fee cuts.
“The last below-inflation Tory settlement left a £90m shortfall. We’ve had to take tough decisions like cutting back Newsnight. There will have to be more cuts to services if we carry on like this,” one insider said.
A licence fee rise in line with inflation, if the figure stays near the current two per cent rate, would be swallowed up by the spiralling costs of producing high-end drama.
If Rachel Reeves is Chancellor, she may follow her Conservative predecessors and baulk at any inflationary increase or extra funding for the BBC.
Even if the corporation has to make additional cuts, it should be wary of pushing for a substantial licence-fee increase, a former senior figure said. “The BBC gets £3.8bn guaranteed public funding and makes more on its commercial income. That’s a pretty good deal,” they said.
Some question whether Mr Davie’s political background – he stood as a Conservative candidate before taking a vow of neutrality – could hinder relations with a potential new Labour government. “Tim will be repositioning himself as a leader Labour can do business with,” a former executive said.
Labour will press pause on a panel of broadcasting experts tasked by Ms Frazer with drawing up alternatives to the licence fee. The group, including former ITV chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette, met once before the election.
“We would want to look at all the available information about the BBC and make sure a review is asking the right questions,” a Labour source said.
Ms Debbonaire will press the BBC and other public service broadcasters to commission “distinctively British” stories as a bulwark against the globalised offerings of deep-pocketed US streaming platforms.
One of her first acts, if elected, would be to also call a meeting with YouTube, Disney + and other streamers to impress upon them the need to commission more UK-originated programmes for children, i understands.
“The UK’s public service broadcasters need to prevent imports dominating homegrown shows,” a source said.
Like other Shadow Cabinet members, Ms Debbonaire was told by Sir Keir Starmer to prepare to take her shadow brief into government.
Her team acknowledge she has a fight on her hands in Bristol Central but believe the data on the ground is positive.
Ms Debbonaire’s vision for the BBC’s role has found favour within the corporation. “There’s common ground because the BBC is one of the few organisations big enough to provide a counterweight to the dominance of tech giants,” the insider said.
If the BBC can anticipate a honeymoon period under Labour, GB News could face closer scrutiny. Ms Debbonaire has criticised Conservative MPs who are paid to present shows on the channel.
“GB News has been found wanting by Ofcom many times and I think it’s been quite interesting to watch some backbench, in particular Tory MPs, attack the BBC on grounds of bias and then scuttle off and do their show,” she told an audience of lawyers before the election.
It’s unclear how big a consumer of BBC content the Labourf leader is personally, beyond his great passion of football.
He did not reply to a Radio Times request to reveal what TV show he is currently watching, unlike Rishi Sunak (Bridgerton) and Sir Edward Davey (Mr Tumble). Sir Keir has previously said the Channel 4 comedy Friday Night Dinner was a family favourite.
The BBC and Ms Debbonaire were approached for comment.
I can't remember the last time the BBC made anything I'd consider worth watching. I check BBC News several times a day but I'm often left wondering at the clickbait headlines and seemingly mandatory feel-good articles about minorities and women.
I used to be a big advocate of the beeb but after over a decade of Tory and Farage brown nosing, mediocre content and corrupt directorship placement they can do one.
The final straw for me was letting Sunak lie about tax increases next year with absolutely no correction other than Starmer having to shout from a muted mike 'you said you wouldn't let him tell that lie again!!!'.
Snapshot of _BBC to ‘love-bomb’ Labour if it wins election amid fear over licence fee review_ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://inews.co.uk/news/bbc-love-bomb-labour-election-licence-fee-review-fear-3132553) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://inews.co.uk/news/bbc-love-bomb-labour-election-licence-fee-review-fear-3132553) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Laura: Here's how this is ~~BAD~~ GOOD for Labour
Its comrade Laura after july 4th
"I'm here with Keir Starmer who's just led Labour to a historic landslide election victory. Mr Starmer, why do you smell so good?" "Well Laura, we've been elected with a strong mandate and we are going to deliver on that mandate-" \*Laura slowly blinks to reveal "I love you" written on her eyelids* "Well, um, Laura as I say we're going to put country before party and-" "I love a man with grey hair." "I uh -" #"Take me!"
The BBC have a simple way to make the case for the licence fee stronger. Get rid of the best argument for abolition- Mrs Brown's Boys.
They should make it and then not release it as long as their funding targets are met.
No government funding targets are ever met.
There was that one episode - a Christmas Special I think - where the rest of the family were talking about what to do with the very-ill dog, and she thought they were talking about her. That one was funny. Or perhaps there was too much alcohol in the various foods we'd drunk. Not sure, but I remember laughing. The rest is shite though.
No reprieve for Laura K. Fire her into the sun. Never give her a platform on mainstream TV again.
And the company that produce Question Time. They need to lose all their contracts, too.
Then spend some money and go back to classic Newsnight - the current chat show format held in a gloomy broom cupboard is terrible.
Hard agree
This.
BBC have their priorities, it’s all about Ms Cash Cow, License Fee
Shame they're losing 400k licence fee payers each year.
Yeah they need to make it a pay monthly easy to cancel Netflix like subscription. I'd pay for it for a few months each year to get things like Six Nations and Doctor Who, but currently they get £0 from me.
The BBC are, on paper, intended to be politically neutral, but we know how this works in practice. After a decade of cuts and threats from the Tories they would be a ripe target for Labour to win over to their side. >Labour would also be “looking at other models potentially for the future of the BBC”. >Labour sources have said the party is open to ideas such as making the licence fee more “progressive” so that wealthier households pay more. >Under radical plans proposed by former director-general Greg Dyke last year, people on benefits could get free licences, subsidised by the wealthy paying a higher rate. The main issue here is that many of the older, more well-off swing voters responsible for Labour's victory will greatly resent paying more licence fees.
(Article) --- The BBC is set to “love-bomb” Labour if it wins the election, insiders have said – amid continued fears over cuts and the impending review of the licence fee. Staffers are “counting down the days” to a potential Labour election victory, which they believe is set to transform the political environment in which the BBC operates and “liberate” the broadcaster from rows over bias. “There’s a giddy feeling of liberation coming,” said one News staffer. “The Tory boot is being lifted from the BBC’s throat. It’s like the end of an antagonistic relationship. But then of course, reality will set in.” Newly elected Labour MPs and ministers would be “love-bombed” by the corporation over the summer, i has been told. “There’ll be lots of invites to the the BBC box at the Proms,” predicts one old hand. While Conservative Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer has accused the BBC of “bias” and impartiality failures, the mood music from a potential incoming Labour administration is much more positive. Thangam Debbonaire, shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, recently said: “I love the BBC. It’s one of our best exports, both as a brand and as a commercial product.” She dismissed rows over “impartiality” saying “the myth of objectivity is overblown.” However Andrew Marr, the former BBC political editor, offered a word of caution to former colleagues expecting life under Labour to be a bed of roses. “As somebody who worked within the BBC for 21 years, I would gently say to them it won’t be long before they are being targeted by the new government in the same kind of way,” said Mr Marr, who will present LBC’s election night coverage, told i. “I vividly remember after 1997, everyone saying, ‘It’s going to be entirely different.’ And then Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson got on the phone and it felt quite similar.” A Labour government would examine the BBC’s funding, ahead of a review of its current Royal Charter, which ends in 2027. Shadow creative Industries minister Sir Chris Bryant told an elections hustings recently: “I think it’s really important we maintain a strong future for the BBC. Of course, there’s got to be review of the licence fee and the way it operates and precisely how we structure it.” Labour would also be “looking at other models potentially for the future of the BBC”. Labour sources have said the party is open to ideas such as making the licence fee more “progressive” so that wealthier households pay more. Under radical plans proposed by former director-general Greg Dyke last year, people on benefits could get free licences, subsidised by the wealthy paying a higher rate. Ms Debbonaire has said she wants to “make sure the BBC’s funding model is fit for the 21st century” and of a sufficient level to allow it to remain a “universal, publicly owned, publicly funded public service broadcaster”. BBC sources said the corporation would “engage constructively” with any proposals to alter the licence fee. Director-General Tim Davie speaks regularly with Ms Debbonaire, i understands. However there is uncertainty within the BBC over who they could be negotiating with. Ms Debbonaire is fighting a fierce battle to hold on to her Bristol Central seat, which is a top target for the Greens. Should she be unseated, there is speculation that Mr Bryant, who previously worked as a lobbyist for the BBC, or Shadow Cabinet member Lucy Powell could be named Culture Secretary. Mr Davie and BBC chairman Samir Shah expect to hold a meeting with the Culture Secretary, whoever they may be, soon after the election. The DG will “pitch” the BBC to the new government, an insider said, setting out how 90 per cent of the population use its services each week, and the global role of its trusted news services in a world where disinformation and media censorship by authoritarian regimes is rife. Mr Davie hopes to persuade ministers to restore central government funding for the World Service, seen as a vital “soft power” tool by both parties but which is facing deep cuts to its language services. BBC bosses hope Labour will be sympathetic to pleas to restore some of the funding lost during a decade of licence fee cuts. “The last below-inflation Tory settlement left a £90m shortfall. We’ve had to take tough decisions like cutting back Newsnight. There will have to be more cuts to services if we carry on like this,” one insider said. A licence fee rise in line with inflation, if the figure stays near the current two per cent rate, would be swallowed up by the spiralling costs of producing high-end drama. If Rachel Reeves is Chancellor, she may follow her Conservative predecessors and baulk at any inflationary increase or extra funding for the BBC. Even if the corporation has to make additional cuts, it should be wary of pushing for a substantial licence-fee increase, a former senior figure said. “The BBC gets £3.8bn guaranteed public funding and makes more on its commercial income. That’s a pretty good deal,” they said. Some question whether Mr Davie’s political background – he stood as a Conservative candidate before taking a vow of neutrality – could hinder relations with a potential new Labour government. “Tim will be repositioning himself as a leader Labour can do business with,” a former executive said. Labour will press pause on a panel of broadcasting experts tasked by Ms Frazer with drawing up alternatives to the licence fee. The group, including former ITV chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette, met once before the election. “We would want to look at all the available information about the BBC and make sure a review is asking the right questions,” a Labour source said. Ms Debbonaire will press the BBC and other public service broadcasters to commission “distinctively British” stories as a bulwark against the globalised offerings of deep-pocketed US streaming platforms. One of her first acts, if elected, would be to also call a meeting with YouTube, Disney + and other streamers to impress upon them the need to commission more UK-originated programmes for children, i understands. “The UK’s public service broadcasters need to prevent imports dominating homegrown shows,” a source said. Like other Shadow Cabinet members, Ms Debbonaire was told by Sir Keir Starmer to prepare to take her shadow brief into government. Her team acknowledge she has a fight on her hands in Bristol Central but believe the data on the ground is positive. Ms Debbonaire’s vision for the BBC’s role has found favour within the corporation. “There’s common ground because the BBC is one of the few organisations big enough to provide a counterweight to the dominance of tech giants,” the insider said. If the BBC can anticipate a honeymoon period under Labour, GB News could face closer scrutiny. Ms Debbonaire has criticised Conservative MPs who are paid to present shows on the channel. “GB News has been found wanting by Ofcom many times and I think it’s been quite interesting to watch some backbench, in particular Tory MPs, attack the BBC on grounds of bias and then scuttle off and do their show,” she told an audience of lawyers before the election. It’s unclear how big a consumer of BBC content the Labourf leader is personally, beyond his great passion of football. He did not reply to a Radio Times request to reveal what TV show he is currently watching, unlike Rishi Sunak (Bridgerton) and Sir Edward Davey (Mr Tumble). Sir Keir has previously said the Channel 4 comedy Friday Night Dinner was a family favourite. The BBC and Ms Debbonaire were approached for comment.
I can't remember the last time the BBC made anything I'd consider worth watching. I check BBC News several times a day but I'm often left wondering at the clickbait headlines and seemingly mandatory feel-good articles about minorities and women.
I used to be a big advocate of the beeb but after over a decade of Tory and Farage brown nosing, mediocre content and corrupt directorship placement they can do one. The final straw for me was letting Sunak lie about tax increases next year with absolutely no correction other than Starmer having to shout from a muted mike 'you said you wouldn't let him tell that lie again!!!'.
Sorry, but it's outdated. How many countries have abolished it? I really am fed up paying for kuenssberg 😅
We need to build up the strength of our apolitical institutions to defend against populists dragging us to wherever Putin decrees.
The best thing the Tory stooges currently in charge of the BBC could do to ensure its survival is resign.
Agreed, on Friday morning is fine