Liar, Liar, Liar.

[gulliver1]

Dec 2019, Part of the Conservative Party, Election Manifesto , was" Free TV licence for over 75's" and" thinking about abolishing it for good," yesterday it was announced The CONS will increase the fee from april this year. Is that why they are known as the Nasty Party ?. or even the Con Party

[gulliver1]

Douglas 09.36 do you mean the cost of the TV Licence ?.

[douglas9401]

No gulliver, I mean the high and mighty who sneer and demand 'links' then mumble stuff like 'I heard it being discussed sometime, never' or come over the barricades attacking posters for who they are, regardless of post content.

[gulliver1]

Douglas 09.46 Sorry I missunderstood your earlier post.

[mushroom25]

try this:-
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2020-01-16/debates/94888427-C6EC-48B7-BD31-B95299C42538/FreeTVLicences

In particular, where the Minister for Sport, Media and Creative Industries said:-
"May I gently remind the hon. Lady that the Government agreed a deal with the BBC in 2015? The director-general at the time said that it was “a strong deal for the BBC”,​ and that it rovided “financial stability”. It saw BBC income boosted by requiring iPlayer users to have a licence. We have unfrozen the licence fee for the first time since 2010 and, in return for this, we agreed that responsibility for the over-75 concession would transfer to the BBC in June 2020. The BBC needs to honour this agreement.

note that whether to grant over 75s a free licence from this June rests with the BBC, not the government.

[emmie]

note that whether to grant over 75s a free licence from this June rests with the BBC, not the government.

so its the BBC's call to make

[gulliver1]

And to make it even better the BBC has started making staff redundant,
450 Alone on the news section.

[mushroom25]

//And to make it even better the BBC has started making staff redundant, 450 Alone on the news section. //

that's a business decision for the BBC to make, they only have a fixed amount of budget. they could (as an alternative) choose to take paid advertising.

[emmie]

if they did that then the licence fee should be scrapped.

[gulliver1]

And I am sure that all the Directors etc at BBC will vote for free TV licences. just like Turkeys voting for Christmas , all Boris has done is pass the Buck and well he knows it , very very cunning is your Boris.
Sorry I should have said very very cunning is your Dominic.

[mushroom25]

//all Boris has done is pass the Buck //

the buck was passed in 2015, as I believe was clear in the link I posted from Hansard. at which time Boris was still mayor of London and nothing whatever to do with the process of national government.

point the finger if it needs pointing, but make sure it's pointing the right way, eh?

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[barry1010]

So, gulliver, you are mistaken in your opening post. The manifesto did not guarantee free tv licences for the over 75s and it was not the government's decision to make.

If you are going to accuse somebody of lying you need to check your facts.

[ichkeria]

Firstly
Over 75s already receive free TV licences.
What is nasty is actually passing this fee on to the BBC, which has never paid it.
This money would have to come from the licence fee, which would mean huge cuts in the BBC's output. Which would affect over 75s too.
A modest increase in the licenece fee is to be welcomed.
The licence fee is in situ until at least 2027, when the BBC's charter is up for renewal.
I haven't read the Tory manifesto, but I am fairly confident it didn't even suggest abolishing the licence fee by 2024.

[gulliver1]

Although I do not have to have a TV licence where I Live ,{ there is no such thing like that here} I do think the cost of one , or the need of one in the UK ,is now out of control. £157.50 seems excessive

[Spicerack]

It was the aBBC who had already agreed to pay for this (as part of a deal) who reneged on it.
Nothing really to do with the Government.
There's some weird people on this site who live in a total fantasy land.

[maggiebee]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2020/tv-licence