BBC TV licence: New petition calls for referendum in the UK

Campaigners are demanding a vote on the future of the funding model for the BBC.

They want the public to be able to have their say on how the corporation should receive money beyond 2026 when the current royal charter, which sets out the BBC's terms of operation, ends.

The petition says: "The TV licence has been a cause of much concern to the general public over a long period of time with many petitions and debates taking place.

Campaigners are demanding a vote on the future of the funding model for the BBC

"The BBC say they are answerable to the general public yet the public get very little say into their funding, it's now time to let the public have their say.

"The Government should give the general public a binding referendum on the future of the TV Licence before the next royal charter."

Those signing the petition are calling for the public to be given a simple choice between seeing the funding model the same as it currently is, and changing to a subscription service allowed to raise funds via customers paying for access and through advertising.

Some 6,411 people have already backed the demands for a vote.

The Government is required to respond to all petitions which reach 10,000 signatures.

If 100,000 people put their name to the request it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

The launch of the petition comes after a hard-hitting report by Lord Dyson found that Martin Bashir lied and forged documents to win his 1995 Princess Diana interview.

BBC chairman Richard Sharp has admitted there were “clear failures” at the broadcaster and confirmed there will be an investigation into why Martin Bashir was rehired in 2016.

The former banker, who took over the role earlier this year, criticised the methods Bashir used to secure the interview, which included faking bank statements, and suggested the BBC had failed to uphold “governance, accountability and scrutiny”.

He told World At One on BBC Radio 4: “There’s no doubt, and the Dyson report reveals this, that the practices adopted in advance of the interview were entirely unacceptable in any ethical news journalism and broadcasting entity and that was a clear failure.

“Subsequently, it’s also clear that the approach to reviewing the programme and the practices failed and that’s a separate failure which was identified in the prince’s (Duke of Cambridge) statement to do with one of governance, accountability and scrutiny.”

A standard TV Licence costs £157.50

In March, a report by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee claimed there was no choice but for the licence fee to remain until at least 2036.

After carrying out an inquiry into the future of BBC funding MPs concluded the Government had "missed the boat" for reform by failing to invest in improving the broadband infrastructure necessary to facilitate change.

Julian Knight, DCMS committee chair said: "It's clear that the BBC TV licence fee has a limited shelf life in a digital media landscape.

"However, the Government has missed the boat to reform it.

“Instead of coming up with a workable alternative, it has sealed its own fate through a failure to develop a broadband infrastructure that would allow serious consideration of other means to fund the BBC."

• What do you think of the new petition? Let us know in the comments.