James Sunderland raises concerns about political bias in the BBC, particularly in the commentary of individual presenters and in tweets, and calls on the BBC to do more to ensure that it remains impartial as a public service broadcaster in order to justify its publicly funded license fee.
James Sunderland (Bracknell) (Con)
I have always loved the BBC. As a kid growing up and since, I have been blown away by the quality of its broadcasting; by its sport, music, culture, radio, nature, news and, of course, humour—even though I feel we have lost something with this endless thirst for political correctness. However, I have been increasingly concerned in recent months by the political bias creeping in, notably with individual commentary from presenters, through tweets and with inaccuracies in reporting. The BBC is a public service broadcaster; it is not a political organisation. So does the Secretary of State agree that the BBC has much more to do here to fully justify its publicly funded licence fee?
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Lucy Frazer)
The heart of my hon. Friend’s question is about the BBC’s impartiality. I know that the BBC strives hard to maintain impartiality, with its 10-point plan, but at its heart the BBC needs to provide an impartial service, because if it does not do so, it should not be getting licence fee payers’ money and it is just the same as every other organisation. That is why it needs to continue to strive, as I know it does, to ensure that it provides impartial output.