BBC chief Lord Hall 'a coward' over licence fee, says Chris Bryant.

Labour MP Chris Bryant has branded BBC Director-General Lord Hall a "coward" and a top director at the broadcaster "daft".

He was taking part in a lively debate at the Edinburgh International Television Festival and accused Tony Hall of not standing up to Culture Secretary John Whittingdale.

Asked if the over-75s should have their licence fee paid, Mr Bryant said: "That is a government political decision, it is not for the BBC to decide who gets a free television licence."You shouldn't be turning the BBC into a subset of the Department for Work and Pensions. That is just morally offensive.

"And nobody suggested it in the General Election, they had no mandate to take it forward, and I think that Tony Hall frankly was a coward in not going to the public and saying 'You John Whittingdale publicly said before the General Election that you would hate any process that was just a stitch-up over money'.

"I think it's unpatriotic frankly for a Conservative party that is meant to believe in Britain to diminish the greatest British brand that we have."


Press Association.
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