Rupert Lowe has promised to scrap the TV licence amid Labour’s rumoured plans to extend it (Image: Getty)
Reform MP Rupert Lowe has slammed the Government for reportedly considering extending the TV licence fee for those who do not watch the or any live programme.
Households who only use streaming services and don’t use the iPlayer plans to change the way the broadcaster is funded.
However, Reform’s Mr Lowe believes the fee should be “entirely scrapped” rather than extending it to those not watching the .
The MP for Great Yarmouth wrote on the social media platform X: “The licence fee shouldn’t be extended to streaming services, it should be entirely scrapped.
Those only using streaming services could be faced with paying the TV licence fee (Image: Getty)
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“Force the organisation to stand on its own two feet – it would collapse within a week.
“When we win the next election, the will be immediately defunded. It will be glorious!”
’s party has previously pledged to scrap the fee as party of Reform UK’s ‘contract’ with voters. Last year, the party leader said: “The out-of-touch wasteful is institutionally biased. The TV licence is taxation without representation. We will scrap it. In a world of on-demand TV, people should be free to choose.”
The party made their stance on axing the TV licence fee clear following Reform MP for Ashfield, Lee Anderson, ripping up a licence fee letter at a conference in September 2024.
Sir is reportedly exploring other funding options, including the public-service broadcaster to show adverts, charging radio listeners a fee and taxing streaming services.
The licence fee currently stands at £169.50 a year (Image: Getty)
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With the migration of live-TV watchers to on-demand services such as and Disney+, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is looking at ways of keeping the well funded before the broadcaster’s charter ends in 2027.
Those who watch live TV or use iPlayer are required to pay the licence fee of £169.50 a year. However, this figure usually rises annually with inflation.
Ms Nandy said earlier this month that she had “already started initial discussions with the leadership about the charter review” with the hope to “future-proof our national broadcaster until well into the latter half of this century”.