BBC licence fee to be frozen until 2024 to cushion cost of living crisis

THE BBC licence fee is to be frozen until 2024 in the first of a raft of measures to cushion the cost of living crisis.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries is expected to announce this week that the charge will be pegged at £159.

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The move, red meat to senior Tories, will appease restless MPs frustrated by the scandals engulfing Downing Street.

It follows months of talk between ministers and the Beeb.

The organisation has argued for a rise sufficient at least to cover inflation, which is set to hit 4.4 per cent next year.

The fee, worth £3.2billion annually to the BBC, went up from £157.50 to £159 last year.

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But no further rise will be considered before 2024.

Tory MPs argue that it should be reduced owing to the success of paid-for streaming services such as Netflix.

The Beeb has warned it will struggle to meet the rising cost of programming if the fee does not go up at a similar rate.