Jo Stevens – 2020 Comments on BBC Job Cuts

The text of the comments made by Jo Stevens, the Shadow Culture Secretary, on 15 July 2020.

The huge increase in job cuts is a worrying sign of the pressures the corporation is under.

Although some of these cuts have are caused by the Covid-19 pandemic affecting production, the root cause remains the government’s decision to slash BBC funding. We’ve seen £800 million lost so far in this charter period, not to mention the Tories’ broken promise on the over-75s’ free tv licence, where the cost of £250 million was passed to the BBC.

Ministers need to take responsibility and stop hiding behind the BBC management – they caused these cuts, they should stand up and be counted.