Jacob Rees-Mogg says he thinks the TV License fee “needs to go” after the BBC’s recent row with Gary Lineker.
The controversial and outspoken Tory MP for North East Somerset has made his views on the topic of TV license fees known following what has been a week of turbulence for former England striker turned presenter and pundit, Gary Lineker.
In case you somehow missed it and need bringing up to speed, Gary Lineker was asked to temporarily “step back” from presenting the BBC‘s flagship football show, Match of the Day – which he has fronted since 1999 – last Friday, with the broadcaster saying it considered his recent social media activity to be “a breach of our guidelines”, and confirming he would not return to screen until a “clear position on his use of social media” was agreed.
The broadcaster’s move to suspend Lineker comes after the 62-year-old had been at the forefront of several days of intense scrutiny and debate over his Twitter posts criticising the UK government’s asylum seeker policy.
Gary Lineker presenting Match of the Day / Credit: BBC
His initial tweet saw him compare the language used to announce the government’s policy with that of 1930s Germany – which went on to spark a row over whether he broke BBC impartiality rules.
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After several of Lineker’s presenting partners and prominent BBC colleagues, including fellow Match of the Day co-presenters Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, as well as Alex Scott, Jermaine Jenas, and Micah Richards, all chose to “show solidarity” by refusing to present if asked, the BBC issued an apology yesterday and confirmed that Lineker would return to his presenting duties.
Following an official statement by the BBC, Lineker took to Twitter to reflect on “a surreal few days” and confirm he’ll be back “working with the best and and fairest broadcaster in the world”, while taking the time to thank his colleagues and the general public for their “incredible support”.
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After a surreal few days, I’m delighted that we have navigated a way through this. I want to thank you all for the incredible support, particularly my colleagues at BBC Sport, for the remarkable show of solidarity. Football is a team game but their backing was overwhelming. 1/4
A final thought: however difficult the last few days have been, it simply doesn’t compare to having to flee your home from persecution or war to seek refuge in a land far away. It’s heartwarming to have seen the empathy towards their plight from so many of you. 3/4
With the situation having now been resolved, Rees-Mogg spoke to right-leaning news station GB News to weigh in on it all, and give his opinion on the BBC as a whole, while raising the much-debated topic of TV License fees.
“I think the issue is about the BBC rather than about Gary Lineker’s view,” Rees-Mogg said.
“He’s entitled to have any view he wants, we are all in favour of freedom of speech and people being allowed to say things that we don’t agree with, or we may even find offensive, and that’s actually fine. He can say what he likes.
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“The issue is that the BBC is the state broadcaster and that it’s funded by a tax on televisions. If it weren’t, then we wouldn’t need to worry about its impartiality.”
'It's past its sell by date. It needs to go.'
Following the chaos caused by Gary Lineker's controversial tweet, @Jacob_Rees_Mogg says it is now time to scrap the BBC licence fee.
When the topic got onto the BBC’s licensing fee, Rees-Mogg explained that he thinks it’s a constraint on the broadcaster, telling presenters Bev Turner and Andrew Pierce: “It stops it earning revenues by subscriptions on the iPlayer, or by taking advertising.
“It leads to a heavily regulated media based around what the BBC needs and what is needed for a State-funded channel.
“And so, yes, I’m saying the licence fee has passed its sell-by date and it needs to go.”
Featured Image – GB News
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‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Benson Boone has announced a headline gig in Manchester – and it’s a big one
Danny Jones
American pop sensation and unrivalled king of unnecessary front flips, Benson Boone, has just announced his first-ever headline Manchester arena gig as part of a new arena tour.
The solo artist and acrobatic chart-topper has seen a meteoric rise in the US and, as is usually the case across the Atlantic, he’s become increasingly popular over here too.
Benson may have performed here in Manchester before as part of the 2024 MTV EMAs and for a small show at The Deaf Institute, but now big fans have the added Boone of getting to watch a standalone show at one of Europe’s leading indoor entertainment venues.
Announced on Friday, 30 May, the 22-year-old will be making his way across the pond from Washington for a limited run of UK concerts, with a date at Co-op Live arena being one of just five dates.
Extending his ‘American Heart Tour’ ahead of the release of his eponymous sophomore record, with this autumn leg, Co-op Live will mark his individual visit to 0161.
The Grammy-nominated artist has earned several nods of recognition already for his first album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, which was released just last spring.
He has been described as among the current trend of male singers who fit into the American Idol and ‘Voice audition pop’ genre (a term recently coined online), along with the likes of Teddy Swims, Shawn Mendes, Alex Warren and others.
Regardless of the slightly tongue-in-cheek term, he’s become a huge hit around the world and landing him is still a big coup for the venue that has already welcomed similarly massive pop contemporaries like Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and more.
In case you’re wondering just how big a deal he is over in the States, even this early in his career, his domestic headline dates sold out in seconds, quite literally…
The last time he visited Co-op Live was to perform at the most recent MTV EMAs
Benson Boone is coming to Manchester on Monday, 27 October and will be playing just two other British venues: The O2 in London (two nights) and the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Safe to say you don’t want to miss this one if you like soaring vocals and lots of flipping.
General admission tickets go live at 10am on Thursday, 5 June, but Co-op Members can gain access via the arena’s official pre-sale window from the same time on Tuesday (3 Jun).
Emily Sergeant -
14th March 2023 
