Cameron: Freeze BBC Licence Fee
David Cameron called today for the BBC licence fee to be frozen for one year.
Speaking at his regular Press Conference today, he said:
“First of all, can I take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support over the death of my son Ivan. Sam and I were very grateful not just for all of the texts, emails and letters from members of the media, but for being given some space at a difficult time.
I’m fully back at work now. At our last press conference here I announced the creation of an Economic Recovery Committee to advise us on economic policy. That’s now up and running - we had an excellent meeting shortly after the launch, and George Osborne chaired another meeting last week. At which David Freud joined the Committee.
Whoever wins the general election, the next government of this country will need to make a clean break with the past and set about fixing our economy. I’m absolutely determined to do that, and it means speaking very clearly and frankly about what’s gone wrong, and how we are going to put it right.
So on Friday I gave a pretty frank speech about the fundamental weaknesses in our economy, and our responsibility to tackle them. That is our route-map to recovery, and in the next few weeks I will be making a series of speeches setting out the new Conservative economic strategy.
First, solving Labour’s Debt Crisis by making sure government lives within its means and delivers more for less. And it’s not just government that has to live within its means – we all do.
So today, I want to make an announcement that shows our expectation that government and all taxpayer-funded institutions should start leading by example. The BBC is one of our most important national institutions. It plays a vital role in bringing the country together, and I want to see it prosper and succeed and continue to be a fantastic cultural asset for Britain . But it also needs to maintain public support, and I want to see it leading by example at a tim e when the whole country is tightening its belt.
And so I can announce today that we would freeze the BBC licence fee for one year. I think that would be an important signal to the country of the need for all public institutions, in these difficult economic circumstances, to do more with less.
The second step in our route-map to recovery will be to restore financial confidence and bring back proper regulation of the banks and financial markets, and I will be explaining our approach to that in a speech shortly.
Third, we must cut the cost of decades of social failure by ending mass welfare dependency.
And fourth, we need to rebalance our economy by stimulating investment in the industries of the future so we’re not so reliant on debt, we’re not so reliant on a few sectors like financial services and housing and we’re not so reliant on one part of the country for our economic growth, and make sure that prosperity is spread to every corner of Britain.
So if we win the next election, that’s how a new Conservative Government would get to work fixing our broken economy alongside fixing our broken society:
Solving Labour’s Debt Crisis.
Restoring financial confidence.
Tackling welfare dependency.
And rebalancing our economy.
This route-map to recovery would move Britain beyond the failed economic consensus of recent years, and towards the hope of a strong and sustainable economy for the country’s long-term future.
So over the next few weeks, in the run-up to the G20 conference, I’m going to be setting out our approach to each of these four areas, showing that the country now has a very clear choice:
* between a Conservative Party that really understands just how broken our economy is, and the nature of the failed economic consensus that has brought us to this point.
* And a Labour Prime Minister who is so tied to this consensus that he cannot escape it and offer the country the economic change we need.
Speaking at his regular Press Conference today, he said:
“First of all, can I take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support over the death of my son Ivan. Sam and I were very grateful not just for all of the texts, emails and letters from members of the media, but for being given some space at a difficult time.
I’m fully back at work now. At our last press conference here I announced the creation of an Economic Recovery Committee to advise us on economic policy. That’s now up and running - we had an excellent meeting shortly after the launch, and George Osborne chaired another meeting last week. At which David Freud joined the Committee.
Whoever wins the general election, the next government of this country will need to make a clean break with the past and set about fixing our economy. I’m absolutely determined to do that, and it means speaking very clearly and frankly about what’s gone wrong, and how we are going to put it right.
So on Friday I gave a pretty frank speech about the fundamental weaknesses in our economy, and our responsibility to tackle them. That is our route-map to recovery, and in the next few weeks I will be making a series of speeches setting out the new Conservative economic strategy.
First, solving Labour’s Debt Crisis by making sure government lives within its means and delivers more for less. And it’s not just government that has to live within its means – we all do.
So today, I want to make an announcement that shows our expectation that government and all taxpayer-funded institutions should start leading by example. The BBC is one of our most important national institutions. It plays a vital role in bringing the country together, and I want to see it prosper and succeed and continue to be a fantastic cultural asset for Britain . But it also needs to maintain public support, and I want to see it leading by example at a tim e when the whole country is tightening its belt.
And so I can announce today that we would freeze the BBC licence fee for one year. I think that would be an important signal to the country of the need for all public institutions, in these difficult economic circumstances, to do more with less.
The second step in our route-map to recovery will be to restore financial confidence and bring back proper regulation of the banks and financial markets, and I will be explaining our approach to that in a speech shortly.
Third, we must cut the cost of decades of social failure by ending mass welfare dependency.
And fourth, we need to rebalance our economy by stimulating investment in the industries of the future so we’re not so reliant on debt, we’re not so reliant on a few sectors like financial services and housing and we’re not so reliant on one part of the country for our economic growth, and make sure that prosperity is spread to every corner of Britain.
So if we win the next election, that’s how a new Conservative Government would get to work fixing our broken economy alongside fixing our broken society:
Solving Labour’s Debt Crisis.
Restoring financial confidence.
Tackling welfare dependency.
And rebalancing our economy.
This route-map to recovery would move Britain beyond the failed economic consensus of recent years, and towards the hope of a strong and sustainable economy for the country’s long-term future.
So over the next few weeks, in the run-up to the G20 conference, I’m going to be setting out our approach to each of these four areas, showing that the country now has a very clear choice:
* between a Conservative Party that really understands just how broken our economy is, and the nature of the failed economic consensus that has brought us to this point.
* And a Labour Prime Minister who is so tied to this consensus that he cannot escape it and offer the country the economic change we need.
Comments