Nigel Farage has called for the BBC licence fee to be axed as part of his newly-unveiled “contract” with voters. The Reform leader, 60, said the licence fee was “taxation without representation” and that people should not be forced to fund the “wasteful” BBC.
There have been many outspoken critics of the BBC licence fee. Among the critics is TalkTV host Kevin O’Sullivan, who described the fee a “ludicrous anachronism”, and something other countries would refuse outright to do.
However, many other countries including Germany, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Japan and Pakistan all pay for a TV licence.
A TV licence costs £169.50 per year and pays for BBC shows and services – including TV, radio, the BBC website, podcasts, iPlayer and apps.
It means that the BBC does not show adverts as a way of funding – like other channels.
Speaking in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, Nigel Farage said: “I genuinely feel Britain is broken. That nothing actually works anymore. That we’re broken economically, as our national debt explodes, as our debt repayments are now over £90billion every year – the same amount as the education budget.
“I feel increasingly we’re broken socially and it doesn’t matter what crime statistics the Government quotes at us, we all feel less safe on our streets.”
Nigel Farage is leading the Reform party in this year’s general election.
He has outlined a “contract” with voters, aiming to protect British values, fight left-wing bias and scrap the TV licence fee.
The Brexiteer’s Reform party has faced criticism recently after one of his candidates said the UK have “taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality” instead of fighting Nazis.
Farage also previously described Hitler as “hypnotic in a very dangerous way” after reiterating his admiration for Vladimir Putin as a “political operator”.