Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan has launched a public consultation on whether failure to pay the TV licence fee should no longer be a criminal offence.
Currently, anyone who watches or records live TV or uses iPlayer without a TV licence is guilty of a criminal offence and could go to prison.
Baroness Morgan said it was time to think about keeping the fee “relevant” in a “changing media landscape”.
The consultation, which will last eight weeks with the government publishing its response this summer, will also look at the viability of an alternative enforcement scheme.
Decriminalisation would not mean non-payment would become voluntary. It could instead mean it would become a civil offence similar to non-payment of council tax or a electricity bill.
Ahead of a speech on Wednesday, Baroness Morgan said many people thought it wrong that “you can be imprisoned for not paying the TV licence and its enforcement punishes the vulnerable”.
“We are launching a public consultation to make sure we have a fair and proportionate approach to licence fee penalties and payments, that protects those most in need in society,” she added.
This comes as one of the BBC’s most senior presenters launched an astonishing Twitter attack on his own employer, Andrew Neil criticised the corporation over a video posted on the CBBC Twitter feed.
The two-minute clip was from satirical children’s show Horrible Histories and depicted HM Queen Victoria being shocked to discover goods she enjoys, such as tea and sugar, are not actually produced in the United Kingdom.
Posting on the matter, Mr. Neil commented: “This is anti-British drivel of a high order.
“Was any of the licence fee used to produce something purely designed to demean us?”
The clip has been viewed around one million times in effect due to the controversy it has caused over the lyrics.
In the introduction, Mr. Kumar comments: “Britain is striking out on its own and leaving Europe.” Adding sarcastically at the end “Go Britain!” with a cheesy smile and a thumbs up.
On social media, the BBC was ridiculed for producing the clip, one username Mr. Martin wrote: “Is the BBC on a mission to get itself closed down?”
However, not everyone took a pop at the BBC Ian Fraser responded to Mr. Neil by commenting: “Is there anything factually incorrect about this?
“Also isn’t it healthy that, just occasionally, British schoolchildren are made aware that not everything about Britain’s past is glorious?”
Unity News Network (UNN) Staff Writer | To find out more details about our staff, please head to the About Us section on our website.
