Broadcasting: Recent Developments

Earl of Clancarty Excerpts

Thursday 8th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Clancarty (CB)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, on a thoughtful opening speech.

The phrase I became heartily fed up with was “punching above our weight”, usually uttered by Ministers whose Government continued to wield the axe for further cuts to the arts. According to Voice of the Listener & Viewer, from 2010 to 2024 the BBC suffered 38% in funding cuts—a horrendous statistic—invariably affecting every area of programming, including the arts. We do not punch above our weight. There is reduced output and the added danger that mistakes may be made, as we have heard.

What the BBC is surviving on to a significant extent is a huge residual feeling of good will across the world, its dogged impartiality in terms of news reporting, and, for what survives of the World Service, still a considerable reach. Remarkably, the BBC is still considered a beacon of democratic values, but without the necessary investment and, more importantly, a belief in those values beyond seeing the BBC as a money-spinner for the growth agenda, that good will will dissipate—a major reason why the World Service, a necessary aspect of foreign policy, needs again to be properly funded by the Foreign Office.

In the early 1960s a young, unknown playwright was given not one but three slots for plays on BBC radio years before “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” made Tom Stoppard’s name. It was the first play I ever saw at the theatre, courtesy of a school trip. Famously, Stoppard turned down the opportunity to write the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s film “Jaws” because at the time he was working on a play for the BBC—for radio. It is difficult to imagine such a thing happening now. What remains in terms of the arts is still great but needs to be built on, including restaffing. Music is still well served, with five orchestras, although in-house drama and coverage of the visual arts are diminished. I miss drama on Radio 3, which was such a good fit.

The BBC urgently needs to be future-proofed, particularly against structural threats, which could be worse even than the loss of funding, bad as that has been. I agree with the Broadcasting, Entertainment and Arts Unions’ plea that the BBC should not be compelled to commercialise because of funding restraints. There has to be certainty—a forever charter without the nail-biting review. The BBC needs to be properly independent in terms of government appointments. That independence should be extended in certain ways to other channels, and the Ofcom code strengthened, as the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, has said. As an instance, for obvious historical reasons, participation by German politicians in their media is strictly controlled. They cannot present programmes except in rare circumstances. That policy should be enforced here. We have seen what is happening in America in terms of the destructive interference of government in its institutions and media outlets. Unless measures are taken now, it is not inconceivable that with a Farage Government GB News becomes, in effect, a state broadcaster.

Beyond streaming, and certainly in the face of mis- and disinformation, there remains a strong moral case for a substantial public service broadcaster for the good of society, which is why a universal funding model needs to be adopted—less liable to be undone than the licence fee, which I fear could too easily be turned into a subscription.