PM Backs BBC 6's Retention

Gordon Brown has joined the call to save threatened BBC radio station 6 Music.

The digital station is facing closure as part of a shake-up of the corporation, which will divert an extra £600 million into programme-making.

But the Prime Minister told the Radio Times that the BBC should not have "succumbed to pressure" to axe some of its output.

He said: "The licence fee is essential to the BBC. Any proposal to massively cut the fee or to strip the BBC of its independence - or alternatively, to remove its ability to make certain programmes - is a huge mistake.

"I don't think politicians should make that decision about what the BBC produces. I think the BBC should make that decision. I also think, personally, that the BBC should not have succumbed to pressure to cut certain things - but they have."

Asked whether he was in favour of the campaign to save endangered 6 Music, he said: "Yes because it's the next stage you worry about. The Conservatives have said that they'll hive off Radio 1.

"A lot of things that the BBC does are incredibly creative and quite risky. But this is a necessary means of us being a creative society. I want to safeguard the independence of the BBC and I think the licence fee is the means by which you do it."

It has also emerged that Mr Brown also came out against 'paywalls', which are about to be introduced for websites for The Times, The Sun and the News of the World. He said: "People have got used to getting content without having to pay," he said.

(BMcC/GK)