Keir Starmer ‘Committed’ to BBC Licence Fee

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he is “committed” to the BBC and its TV licence fee. The annual fee faced years of scrutiny under the Conservative government, with it being frozen for two years at £159 before it was increased at a lower rate than the corporation expected, bringing the charge to £169.50 in April. The former government also announced a review into the licence fee model, which will look at alternative funding for the corporation’s operations for when its current charter period ends in December 2027. Addressing the future of the household payment, the prime minister told reporters during his trip to Washington: “We’ve committed in our manifesto to obviously the BBC and to the licensing scheme....