The real reason the Tories are getting tough on the licence fee

You know the Tories are worried about their core vote when they start talking tough on the BBC licence fee.

Rishi Sunak took time out of his Cop28 jaunt to declare that the Corporation must ‘cut its cloth appropriately’. Meanwhile, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer is against the planned £15 increase in the fee, which comes after a two-year freeze agreed between Auntie and the government. The new hike, set for April, will reflect the 12-month average of inflation, bringing the annual cost to television viewers to £173.30. 

Frazer is concerned about any increase being ‘sustainable for families across the country’ and so she reportedly wants to use a different metric for inflation, the consumer price index as of September, which stood at 6.7 per cent. Under this calculation, the TV tax would rise by only £10.65 to a mere £169.65. Disgruntled right-wingers claim there’s no value in having the Conservatives in government, but that’s just not true.