Sammy Wilson: The BBC must end its ruthless pursuit of pensioners over the licence fee

Many licence fee payers will be unsurprised at the BBC threat to remove patriotic songs like Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory from Last Night of the Proms (it later decided to diminish the tradition by playing only orchestral versions).
By Sammy Wilson
Published 2nd Sep 2020, 11:59 BST
Updated 2nd Sep 2020, 14:22 BST
A previous Last Night of the Proms at the Albert Hall. The BBC threatened to remove patriotic songs and later decided to diminish the tradition by playing only orchestral versionsA previous Last Night of the Proms at the Albert Hall. The BBC threatened to remove patriotic songs and later decided to diminish the tradition by playing only orchestral versions
A previous Last Night of the Proms at the Albert Hall. The BBC threatened to remove patriotic songs and later decided to diminish the tradition by playing only orchestral versions

After all, this is the organisation that time after time acquiesces to the woke political activists which seem to dominate public discussion on its output.

Yet the real scandal is the ruthless way in which the corporation is pursuing vulnerable pensioners who refuse to pay their licence fee. The BBC have revealed that they will he paying private company Capita an extra £38m this year to collect the fee. What is worrying is that Capita have already been criticised for their aggressive tactics in pursuing non-payers.

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This includes door to door on the spot fines and bonuses for employees who reach certain targets.

Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

The government must immediately introduce legislation to de-criminalise non payment of the licence fee and as a review of the licence fee approaches, make a decision to end it.

Putting the BBC on the same commercial footing as other broadcasters and streaming services.

Sammy Wilson, DUP MP East Antrim

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Related topics:BBCSammy WilsonDUPEast AntrimNorthern Ireland