DEFUND THE BBC LAUNCHES LEAFLET DRIVE: Steve Bird (£ Telegraph 25/10) said that Defund the BBC – a pressure group supported by a group of Conservative MPs including Andrea Jenkyns, Ben Bradley, Lee Anderson and Christian Wakefield – had launched a leaflet campaign entitled ‘The BBC is Broken’, telling homeowners how to legally cancel their licence fee payments. Mr Bird reported that the document accused the corporation of not keeping up with technology and caring less and less about its duty to provide impartial content, especially for those outside the M25.
He said that Rebecca Ryan, the campaign director, had asserted:
‘Defund the BBC is working to inform the British public on how they can cancel their TV licence without fear of prosecution. The BBC’s system for catching and prosecuting non-licence fee payment disproportionately affects women and the poorest and most vulnerable in society. This must stop. Decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee is only the first step. It is totally unreasonable to force people, by fear of imprisonment, to pay the BBC in order to watch non-BBC live TV.’
Until parliament acts we who wish for this out come must battle alone against the strength and resources of the BBC. I understood this motion was going to be debated at the end of November. Has this changed or is it still listed?