BBC local radio cuts: What the politicians say

Radio

It’s been a hectic 48 hours since details of the BBC’s latest round of cost cutting began to emerge following staff calls on Monday.

In that time we’ve heard of the threat of mass redundancies in local radio, counter claims of limited job cuts and new roles in digital positions to balance the cuts that are made, news of merging and regionalisation of local content, and this afternoon the BBC reducing its property footprint in both London and the North West to save money and cut emissions.

Unsurprisingly, politicians have been quick to respond to the developments. The Minister for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport, Julia Lopez, expressed “concern” in the House of Commons yesterday, and revealed that ministers had not been consulted ahead of the BBC’s announcements.

This is perhaps somewhat surprising since current BBC director general Tim Davie could be viewed as very much one of the government’s own – the former deputy chair of Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative Party unsuccesfully stood as a Conservative councillor in the borough in 1993, and was made a Tory peer by Boris Johnson in 2020.

Lopez said in the house: “We do have concerns about the proposals, which we were not given notice of. I want to take this opportunity to stress that the BBC is rightly operationally and editorially independent from the Government, and decisions on service delivery are ultimately a matter for them. However, the Government is disappointed that the BBC is reportedly planning to make such extensive cuts to its local radio output.”

Lopez has been somewhat conspicuous by her absence on social media since the news broke. Her only tweet this week was a very much on-message retweet of HM Treasury’s household financial aid plans for energy bills this winter.

The same cannot be said for Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Digital Culture Media and Sport, Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell. She took to Twitter to accuse the government of putting “the BBC’s long-term future at risk,” quoting Barnsley East MP and Labour colleague, Stephanie Peacock, who accused the government of “undermining” the BBC in the process.

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Kim Johnson, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside was keen to praise the “fantastic local journalism” the BBC provides.


Emma Hardy, Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle, took to the commons to speak about the sense of “belonging and companionship” local radio brings to listeners, particularly isolated ones.


Humberside has become somethng of a key battleground in the fight against the BBC cuts – it was two Radio Humberside presenters that were first to put their heads above the parapet and warn of the threat of mass redundancies that the BBC’s official announcement seemed to have overlooked.

It was refreshing then to see Hardy’s Conservative neighbour, Cleethorpes MP Martin Vickers, also weighing into the debate, describing the cuts as an “own goal.” Perhaps unsurprisingly as a 72-year-old Conservative, Vickers isn’t the most prolific tweeter (he does have an account, but his most recent tweet was from April, about railways in the Western Balkans.)

Vickers chose the House of Commons instead to tell Lopez: “Many of my constituents have already made clear how unhappy they are with what the BBC describe as changes to accommodate ‘changing audience expectations.’ What many of my constituents expect is to be able to listen to their local station – Radio Humberside. They don’t support the BBC’s obsession with their on-line presence, especially not at the expense of receiving more local news and programming.

“I was pleased to hear from the minister when she was responding to questions in the Commons today make clear that the government are not at all happy that these announcements were made without making ministers aware. This was yet another own goal by the BBC and they must rethink.”


Staying in Humberside, it seems fitting to return to Andy Comfort, BBC Radio Humberside’s popular afternoon show host who was among the first to call attention to the alleged massive redundancy threat on Twitter. He had done some basic sums that the BBC top brass might like to take a look at.

It’s a common trope for journalists to use bizarre measurements for their comparisons, from football pitches to double decker buses. Comfort went with the time-honoured cups of coffee to reveal just how much of a burden local radio is on the public purse.

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