North East Somerset MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has called for the BBC licence fee to be scrapped after Gary Lineker's criticism of the government's new migration policy prompted discussion of its impartiality code. Rees-Mogg believes that if the BBC wasn't funded by taxpayers, it would have no obligation to be impartial, and has thus called for an end to the licence fee scheme adding it is "past its sell by date."
The discussion comes after Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker described the Conservative government's plan to tackle illegal immigrants as "beyond awful", which forced the national broadcaster to suspend him, whilst discussions over his conduct took place. Lineker had compared the language used by Home Secretary Suella Braverman to that of Germany under Adolf Hitler, which resulted in her denying using Nazi-like rhetoric in reference to asylum seekers attempting to gain entry into the UK by crossing the English Channel.
Some criticised Lineker for breaking the BBC's golden rule in maintaining strict impartiality on such matters, but many others came to his support, adding that they believed he had a "right to voice his thoughts" on account of freedom of speech, reports the Express.
READ MORE: Gary Lineker returning to Match of the Day after Twitter row
His suspension meant last weekend's Match of the Day programming was truncated to just 20 minutes, and featured no commentary or analysis as it usually would. The BBC recently announced, however, that an agreement had been reached and that Lineker would return for next weekend's programme.
Speaking to famously "anti-woke" and right-leaning news station GB News, Rees-Mogg said he was not surprised. He said: “I think the issue is about the BBC rather than about Gary Lineker’s view.
“He's entitled to have any view he wants, we are all in favour of freedom of speech and people being allowed to say things that we don't agree with, or we may even find offensive, and that's actually fine. He can say what he likes.
“The issue is that the BBC is the state broadcaster and that it's funded by a tax on televisions. If it weren't, then we wouldn't need to worry about its impartiality.”
He continued: “I think that would be much better rather than this pretence that the BBC is impartial, which it isn’t, and then having rows about particular presenters.”
When the topic got onto the BBC’s licensing fee, Rees-Mogg told Bev Turner and Andrew Pierce he believes it adds a constraint on the broadcaster. “It stops it earning revenues by subscriptions on the iPlayer, or by taking advertising,” Rees-Mogg added.
“It leads to a heavily regulated media based around what the BBC needs and what is needed for a State-funded channel. And so, yes, I'm saying the licence fee has passed its sell-by date and it needs to go.”
The recent series of events has sparked a huge discussion on the BBC's decision to remain impartial, with some, such as Rees-Mogg believing a change in funding mechanism would allow for a "freer sense of media" much like the United States. Others believe it opens the door to allow news to become more opinion than fact.
When asked if he believes the BBC was right to suspend Gary last week, Rees-Mogg commented: “I think Lineker is a distraction. The overall picture of the licence fee, and I think those of us broadly on the right have to be very, very careful about attacking people for freedom of speech, so I'm not fussed about what he says.
“I’m not fussed about his contract, I’m fussed about the fact that the BBC is not an impartial broadcaster but it's funded by all of us and that's the fundamental issue. I don’t understand why he doesn't stand for Parliament. He’s highly articulate.”
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