David Cameron pledges to deliver party’s election manifesto in full as he chairs first Conservative-only cabinet since 1997
Plans to decriminalise the non-payment of the BBC licence fee are to be revived by the government, Downing Street said as it mapped out part of David Cameron’s second-term agenda.
As the prime minister chaired the first Conservative-only cabinet in 18 years, his spokesman said Cameron still favoured the proposal which could cost the corporation £200m a year.
The changes could be introduced during the negotiations over the BBC’s next licence fee settlement which begins in April 2017. This would be led on the government side by John Whittingdale, the Thatcherite new culture secretary, who has previously expressed doubts about the licence fee’s long-term viability.
Downing Street declined to fuel criticism of the BBC that followed Whittingdale’s appointment. The prime minister’s spokesman said simply that the BBC’s royal charter would be reviewed as planned next year.
No 10 was keen to focus on the prime minister’s opening remarks to the cabinet, filmed by the TV cameras, in which Cameron said that his administration would deliver the party’s manifesto in full. He pledged to focus “on down-to-earth bread and butter issues we were elected to deliver on”.
The prime minister showed his determination to deliver what is being described as “blue-collar Conservatism” by appointing MPs from modest backgrounds to senior posts. Robert Halfon, the MP for Harlow who campaigns on the cost of living, has been appointed as the Tory deputy chairman and as a minister in the Cabinet office.
Sajid Javid, the son of a Pakistani-born bus driver, was promoted on Monday from his post of culture secretary to succeed Vince Cable as business secretary. On Tuesday morning, Javid ran into an immediate confrontation with trade union leaders after he said that he would prioritise changes to strike laws.
The Tories pledged in their manifesto to change the law to ensure that at least half of the workforce vote in a strike ballot. In “essential services”, such as health, education, fire and transport, industrial action would have to be supported by at least 40% of those entitled to vote.
The new business secretary told The World at One on BBC Radio 4: “That’s something we’ll give more detail on in the Queen’s speech, but it will be a priority. I think it’s also something that needs to be done. We need to update our strike laws and we’ve never hidden away from the changes we want to make.”
But Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, said: “The government’s proposals on union ballots will make legal strikes close to impossible. Union negotiators will be left with no more power than Oliver Twist when he asked for more. After five years of falling living standards, the prospects for decent pay rises have just got a whole lot worse.”
Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet office minister, laid out the beginnings of the government’s programme at the cabinet meeting. The prime minister also dusted down plans for a new communications bill and steps to tackle extremism within the UK, measures that had previously been blocked by the Tories’ former coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats.
The decriminalisation of non-payment of the BBC licence fee will feature in the negotiations over the licence fee settlement. In February, peers narrowly voted that there should be no move to decriminalise the non-payment of the licence fee before 2017.
The BBC has said decriminalisation could cost it up to £200m a year and warned that channels may have to be closed as a result. Last year, MPs backed plans to give the government the power to decriminalise the non-payment of the licence fee, which is £145.50 a year for a colour television. Licence fee evasion is an offence that can incur fines of up to £1,000 and result in a criminal record.
However, in the House of Lords, a cross-party amendment preventing any change before the next licence fee settlement begins in April 2017 was approved by 178 to 175.
Chris Bryant, the new shadow culture secretary, tweeted that he faces a “big job ahead fighting for public service BBC”. But the most recent report by the commons culture select committee in the last parliament, signed off by Whittingdale as its chairman, reached more nuanced conclusions on the licence fee than the culture secretary himself who has compared it to the poll tax.
The committee concluded: “There currently appears to be no better alternative for funding the BBC in the near term other than a hypothecated tax or the licence fee.”
The report added that the next charter renewal negotiations “should not rush profound changes such as the abolition of the licence fee model”. But it said that change would have to be introduced in the 2020s.
“The principle of the licence fee in its current form is becoming harder and harder to sustain given changes in communications and media technology and services, and changing audience needs and behaviours. Given this is the case, we do not see a long-term future for the licence fee in its current form.”
