LICENCE FEE SHOULD NOT PAY £700 MILLION FOR LABOUR'S POLICY

Speaking in the Second Reading debate of the Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill in the House of Commons, Paul Holmes, Liberal Democrat MP for Chesterfield, said:

"Although we support the principle behind the Bill, the whole process is late, vague and offers the Government a blank cheque to impose costs on licence fee payers. Switchover was first discussed in 1999-almost eight years ago. Why has it taken until now for this essential scheme to be put in place? Why are so few details about it available when it needs to be put in place very quickly? Will there be time to implement the scheme properly before switchover starts in the borders in 2008?

"The BBC licence fee settlement has not yet been announced. How can Parliament agree to put an undefined burden of costs on the BBC when we do not even know what its budget will be? The costs of the scheme may be enormous, and various figures have been suggested. If the 7 million households figure is correct and the BBC has to pay for the lot, programming quality could suffer and plans for the move to Manchester and the expansion of various services could be under threat. Ofcom has estimated an average cost of £100 per household. For the 7 million households that might be affected by the Bill, that gives a total cost of £700 million."

Commenting after the debate, Paul Holmes MP added: "The Liberal Democrats have said all along that the government, not the licence fee payer, should pay for those who need assistance in the switch to digital. The Labour Government are trying to make the BBC pay for their policies through the licence fee, which will unfairly hit poorest households hardest."