Ex-culture secretary blasts ‘retrograde’ plan for ‘YouTube tax’ to fund BBC

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Former culture secretary Nicky Morgan has blasted government plans to introduce a “Youtube tax” to extend the BBC licence fee to streaming platforms.

The ex-Tory minister warned the proposal, aimed at safeguarding future of funding for the broadcaster, was “a retrograde step” and would put the BBC “on the wrong footing for the 21st century”.

Her comments came after The Independent revealed the plan to extend the licence fee would be in a government white paper on the BBC Charter review due to be published just before Christmas.

Ministers propose to extend the levy from live television to all streaming platforms including YouTube , Netflix, Disney Plus, Apple TV and Amazon Prime, which could force millions more to pay it.

Baroness Morgan has joined Nigel Farage and Independent MP Adnan Hussain in opposing the move.

But it has won backing from the Tory chair of the culture, media and sport committee Dame Caroline Dinenage.

Baroness Morgan told Times Radio: “I find this absolutely an extraordinary proposal. I mean, I think that Matt Britton, the relatively new director general of the BBC, is right – the licence fee is a busted flush. It's an anachronism of a system where we had about four TV channels. Life has moved on, and people are making a decision to pay for streaming services, to pay subscription fees.

“In my opinion, it's a retrograde step. I think there is an argument for saying that actually there are some programmes and channels and services that BBC does that actually now we should be saying people should pay a subscription fee for those.

“Maybe there are some core services, and I think that BBC News is still very important. But don't tell me that Celebrity Traitors and Strictly Come Dancing and all those sort of things couldn't wash their face compared to other things on Netflix or Apple TV.

“If this proposal does turn out to be true, it's actually putting the BBC on the wrong footing for the rest of the 21st century.”

The proposal has seen a backlash on social media especially to a suggestion that extra cash would be used to revive local journalism to take on misinformation which, in the view of Labour ministers, has helped push support for parties such as Reform UK.

Its leader Nigel Farage told The Independent that the proposals were “deeply worrying” while one of his close allies questioned the legality of the plan.

Independent MP Adnan Hussain said: “People are already paying for subscriptions to Netflix, YouTube, Sky and countless other streaming services. If the BBC is struggling to stay afloat, perhaps it’s time to scrap the archaic TV licence fee and move to a subscription-based model. Let people decide for themselves whether the BBC is worth paying for, rather than forcing everyone to fund a service they have little interest in watching.