Lord West of Spithead
Main Page: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, all noble Lords will know that I speak for the whole Government from this Dispatch Box. I repeat what I said earlier: the manifesto commitment will be retained for the whole of this Parliament.
Lord West of Spithead (Lab)
My Lords, the BBC is a great British institution. What has been decided is quite extraordinary. BBC Monitoring has been amazingly useful over decades for foreign policy and defence—I have seen it doing that. How on earth will BBC Monitoring be properly paid for within this new construct, bearing in mind that it is not a core thing for the BBC in terms of entertainment?
The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, the noble Lord mentions BBC Monitoring. I repeat once again: all these things will be up for discussion in the charter renewal.