[Steve in Pudsey]

I think the different levels of funding and service are fair, because of the political differences. Indeed, I would say that it would be fundamentally inappropriate to fund English regions to the same level as the nations owing to the completely different political contexts. The nations, and Scotland in particular, have to cover governments with significant powers. They therefore need their own specialist policy correspondents and the ability to provide more coverage. Other than a handful of glorified transport executives, there is no regional government in England. The levels of hard news between the nations and the regions is simply not comparable.

That's fair justification for having a bigger newsgathering operation and a few extra news/politics opt outs. But a whole extra channel?