BBC Charter Renewal

Jonathan Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 6th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jonathan Davies (Mid Derbyshire) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. The BBC is one of Britain’s finest institutions. Although it has undoubtedly had its problems, as many institutions have—including this place—it makes a significant contribution to our national life. However, the BBC must change to ensure that it is fit for the future in a rapidly changing world; that is why I welcome the opportunity that the Green Paper consultation provides. It is an opportunity to ensure that issues relating to the BBC’s funding, governance and editorial standards are strengthened, and that its political impartiality is reinforced. It is also an opportunity to consider what the public value about the BBC and what they do not.

Some key themes and values should help shape this process. The BBC must retain its strong regional dimension. Its local radio and TV are important levers for holding decision makers to account. Weakening those functions would lead to poorer decisions in our democratic processes, and individuals and organisations that do not act in a public-spirited way would be given an easier ride. That said, we must be mindful of how coverage of local news on the BBC News website has contributed to the decline of local newspapers. We cannot have a situation where the local media landscape is monolithic because the size and scale of the BBC has drowned out all its competitors. The BBC-funded local democracy reporting service, which employs some reporters at local papers, has gone some way to mitigate that issue, and consideration should be given to whether that service should be expanded.

Given the rise of AI, fake news and disinformation online and via social media, the BBC must grow its trustworthiness and retain its accuracy and impartiality. It is a linchpin of the UK’s creative economy, and it commissions and creates world-leading content. To retain and grow that, it needs to be able to invest in programme making at a level that allows it to compete with streaming services and major US production companies. The BBC must also be able to maintain its globally recognised choirs and orchestras. The professionals delivering that music making must enjoy good terms and conditions, which they ought to have a right to expect. It must build on its educational offer—not just for children and young people, but for adults seeking to retrain and gain new skills in a rapidly changing world of work.

However, to do all that, the BBC must be properly resourced. Its funding has been cut in real terms by almost a third since 2010, following freezes or below-inflation rises of the licence fee and top-slicing to fund the World Service and licences for older people. That has led to losses of highly skilled staff, and it is undermining the Reithian principles of the BBC: to inform, entertain and educate. It is important that we consider different funding models that may be available to us as part of this process.

Finally, I encourage colleagues, the public and the organisations that care about what the BBC does to engage with the consultation about the BBC’s future, which is open now. The BBC belongs to us all. Together, we can ensure that it continues to play an important part in our national life for generations to come.