Steve Brine, Member of Parliament for Winchester and Chandler’s Ford was present in the House of Commons as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport gave a statement on the future of the BBC.
Over the weekend rumors regarding the future of license fees and the UK’s public service broadcasting swirled, which culminated in the Statement this afternoon.
Mr Brine, who is a member of the DCMS Select Committee, listened keenly as the Secretary of State, Nadine Dorries, spoke less than a year on from the Committee’s report.
Steve spoke during the debate, saying; “The Secretary of State will know the Select Committee report, that my Honourable Friend from Ashford just referred to, acknowledges in its very recommendation that government will need to act to ensure public service broadcasting remains sustainable in today’s global media marketplace. So, in that sense I'm very glad we're having that debate, even if I am a little unclear as to where it came from this weekend.”
The MP continued and asked the Secretary of State; “Given that report is also clear that government need to have this credible view on what an alternative for the license few might be and indeed we say their vision is for the future of public service broadcasting?
Could I just ask my Right Honourable Friend, what are her instincts as she kicks off this welcome national debate?”
Nadine Dorries responded to Winchester’s MP saying; “my instincts are, let's start the discussion, let's have a look. This is where, what I'm starting. Unless of course members of the House would just like us to decide and not have the debates and not the discussion, but that's where we're going.
More information
Read the full debate via Hansard
Read the full DCMS Select Committee report on the future of public service broadcasting
