Plan to sell off Channel 4 “will cost jobs in Yorkshire and the North”

And Lucy Powell, Shadow Culture Secretary and Manchester Central MP, said the plans amounted to “cultural vandalism”.

She said: “Nothing screams a rudderless Government like announcements on Channel 4 while people’s energy bills are through the roof. 

“Selling off Channel 4, which doesn’t cost the tax-payer a penny anyway, to what is likely to be a foreign company, is cultural vandalism. It will cost jobs and opportunities in the North and Yorkshire, and hit the wider British creative economy.”

And the National Union of Journalists described the proposed sale as a “a wanton assault on a valued British institution disguised as a gift to the creative industry in the UK”.

Séamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary, said: “Channel 4 has a proud history of creativity, imagination and innovation. The current funding model enables high quality journalism which is admired nationally and internationally – at no cost to the taxpayer.

“One has to question the motivation of replacing that model and leaving a public service broadcaster at the mercy of shareholder control. This would be an unforgivable act of cultural barbarism which demands a vigorous response from all who care about public service broadcasting and independent journalism.”