BBC boss on £547,000 salary ‘supports people being taken to court for evading licence fee’

The director-general of the BBC has said he supports people being taken to court for evading the licence fee.

Tim Davie, 58, who earns £547,000 a year, has been the chief executive officer of the corporation since 2020 after taking over from Tony Hall.

During an appearance on BBC Breakfast with hosts Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty, Davie was asked about the results of a major questionnaire involving more than 870,000 members of the public.

Pressed by Stayt about whether he was interested in reforming the scope of the licence fee, he said: ‘I support the current system.’

After being asked to explain what he means, Davie continued: ‘I do approve of enforcement. When you talk to most people who are paying the licence fee, if people are evading the licence fee, it should be enforced.

‘This is why we really need to go into the charter with an open mind and say, what’s the right enforcement?

‘I do think for the vast majority of people watching, who we’re there to serve, and this is what we get when we talk to people, they’ll say, we must make sure that actually those people who should be paying, are paying. That’s fair.’

Davie’s comments come ahead of the Government’s review of the BBC’s charter, which looks at how it should be funded, after it committed to increasing the licence fee in line with inflation each year until 2027.

Earlier in his appearance on BBC Breakfast, Stayt again appeared to grill the director-general after 38% of people answered in their questionnaire that the ‘BBC is ineffective at being independent from the government.’

He questioned the chief executive, asking: ‘Do people think a member of the government rings and you go “uh-oh” because you’re in their pocket?’

Davie eventually responded, saying ‘absolutely not’, before claiming: ‘We’re influenced by our our standard, our editorial guidelines. What I would say, however, it is absolutely appropriate that people hold the BBC accountable, that is absolutely how we operate.’

In recent years, the BBC has been hit by a series of scandals, from Huw Edwards to the BBC’s Gaza documentary and Gregg Wallace investigation.

In September, Davie warned ‘there may be more things coming out’ while speaking to MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

He said: ‘I think things have changed since we last talked to the committee, we are seeing people call it out, and that is a positive change, but it’s ongoing work.

‘I don’t think you can change culture in six months and suddenly say nothing’s going to occur.

‘We may see more things coming out, because in some ways I’m asking for it, and being utterly transparent and running towards the problem, that’s what we need to do.’

BBC Breakfast airs from 6am – 9am on weekdays on BBC One.

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