Cuts to BBC World Service funding would ‘make us less safe’, MPs tell ministers

The government has asked the BBC World Service to model two funding scenarios, one where funding remains the same in cash term, and one where it would be cut by 2% each year. Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images/BBC

Hours before Rachel Reeves stood up to deliver her budget last year, government officials were still in tense negotiations with bosses at the BBC over how much the World Service would be given.

The amount they were haggling over was relatively small – just £5.5m out of a total budget of £400m. But BBC chiefs warned the government that if the cuts were imposed on them, they would have to close several language stations in parts of the world where the Russians already hold influence. Doing so would be a gift to Moscow, they added.