Keir Starmer commits to keeping BBC licence fee after years of Tory hostility

The BBC’s funding, which is based on the £159 licence fee, has been eroded by successive Conservative administrations. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters

Labour will support the BBC licence fee, Keir Starmer has pledged, in stark contrast to the years of Conservative opposition to the funding model.

The levy of £169.50 a year on households with a television used to receive live broadcasts (or watch BBC iPlayer) raises £3.2bn annually for the BBC and the Welsh channel S4C.