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Fed-up Britons young and old are refusing to pay the TV licence fee in their \u201chundreds of thousands\u201d and MPs are calling for the levy to be scrapped. Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer confirmed on Thursday the TV licence fee would rise next April from \u00a3159 to \u00a3169.50 \u2013 a hike of \u00a310.50 or 6.6 per cent.<\/p>\n
But the South East Cambridgeshire MP, who launched a funding review on Thursday looking at whether the licence fee should be reformed so it is fair to fee payers and more sustainable for the BBC, said on Friday threatening to send people to jail for not paying the levy was \u201csomething I personally feel is morally indefensible in modern times\u201d. In response, Red Wall Tory Jonathan Gullis branded the new TV licence fee hike an \u201cinsult\u201d to the British people and demanded that non-payment of the levy be decriminalised.<\/p>\n
The MP for Stoke-on-Trent North told the Daily Express: \u201cIt is an insult to the people of this country that at a time when every penny counts, the BBC licence fee is rising, as well as threatening to criminalise people for simply turning on their telly. For me and many people in this country it is simple, scrap the licence fee so people can choose if they wish to pay for it and we can decriminalise this vindictive nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dame Andrea Jenkyns argued the fee rise would only serve to line the pockets of the BBC\u2019s \u201coverpaid presenters\u201d so they could \u201cspout their political opinions without having to worry about partiality\u201d. The Brexiteer MP for Morley and Outwood in West Yorkshire, who is deputy chair of the influential right-wing European Research Group of Conservative MPs, said: \u201cThe BBC licence fee rise of \u00a310.50 is completely unacceptable and it will hit the most vulnerable first who are already struggling.<\/p>\n
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Dennis Reed, a campaigner for senior citizens in the UK, told the Daily Express he knew of a \u201clarge number of over-75s refusing to pay their licence fee\u201d after the free benefit was axed.<\/p>\n
The head of the Silver Voices organisation said: \u201cGiven the remarks by Lucy Frazer it will now be really difficult for the BBC to prosecute anyone struggling with the cost of living crisis, for TV licence non-payment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe BBC has itself brought the licence enforcement system into disrepute by pursuing hundreds of thousands of over-75s following the scrapping of free licences but not prosecuting any of them for fear of the political consequences. One of our members has had 33 threatening letters over the years but no one has called at his door to find evidence for prosecution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe BBC has refused for three years to discuss a solution for the over-75s and yet has operated an unofficial amnesty. The BBC also refused to consider our request to suspend prosecutions for those struggling with energy and food prices. Now they will find it difficult to prosecute anybody at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone charged will have the ready defence that the prosecution is judged by the responsible Government Minister to be morally indefensible. The Government must bring in a funding solution related to the ability to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis fee rise can only be going to make sure the wages of the already overpaid presenters keep going up, so they can spout their political opinions without having to worry about partiality. It is time to reduce the BBC licence fee, defund the BBC and move away from a central broadcaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defund the BBC campaigner Rebecca Ryan told the Daily Express the British public no longer wanted to pay for a \u201cwasteful\u201d organisation. She said: \u201cBritons are realising that not only do they not want to pay more to line the pockets of BBC fat cats but they don’t have to pay for this wasteful, woke organisation at all – if they only watch non-BBC content on catch-up or on-demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s time the BBC was forced to be answerable to the people who pay for it and the only way for that to happen is if we cut Auntie’s apron strings and ditch the licence fee altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n
POLL: Should the BBC licence fee be scrapped after \u00a310.50 price rise announced?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n