[DTV]

If any sort of miracle is incoming for BBC News through a major rethink of licence fee funding in the near future. It has to happen soon whenever the next GE takes place in the UK. BBC News is a critical and valued news service that is there for the UK public. If the polls suggest Keir Starmer to be the next PM to move into No.10; could his government commit to a new licence fee settlement so it can continue to support the BBC in the near future?

I don't generally think it's a good idea to make clear predictions about the future, but it seems highly unlikely that the BBC are going to get an above inflation licence settlement (which would be needed to reverse cuts) any time soon. At best, it'll be allowed to raise in line with inflation, but that's really just baking in the cuts that have already been made. There is just not the political will or pressure for Starmer, who has been very cautious about making 'spending' commitments, to waste political capital on an unpopular decision for which there is no political gain.

More specifically, there is especially not any pressure to do so to 'rescue' the BBC News channel for which, despite what has been said on this forum, there has been astonishingly little public outcry about.