Army of rebels refuse to pay TV licence fee

TV viewers of all ages are refusing to pay the licence fee in their "hundreds of thousands", campaigners have warned.

- Sam Stevenson

The charge will increase next April from £159 to £169.50 - a rise of 6.6 per cent, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer confirmed this week.

But the minister, who has launched a funding review looking at licence fee reform, also said threatening to send people to jail for not paying the levy was "morally indefensible in modern times".

Jonathan Gullis, Tory MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, said: "It is an insult that at a time when every penny counts the BBC licence fee is rising, as well as threatening to criminalise people for turning on their telly. Scrap the licence fee so people can choose if they wish to pay for it and we can decriminalise this vindictive nonsense."