Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy may be the justifiable victim of rumours about her competence as a Minister. Telling the Telegraph that the licence fee is 'unenforceable' is like popping an Alka-Seltzer in the bathroom mug of existing evasion levels.
She kicked the BBC's position further with repetition of the half-story about prosecutions for evasion 'targeting women'. No-one in the BBC or Capita has ever sat down and said "How many women can we get fined today ?". Still her language is unchanged: "I 've been concerned about the way it's been enforced in the past, with women - particularly vulnerable women - targeted for enforcement action, and the BBC itself has accepted that".
The BBC has explained, rather than accepted, this issue, Lisa, and tried to sort it. More than 60% of single adult households are female compared to less than 40% male, and the licence fee is tied to households. Single households are more likely to be in financial trouble; and financial support charities have identified a clear gender 'debt gap' flowing from unequal caring responsibilities, lower pay, and lower lifetime earnings.
Other areas where more women than men get in trouble with the courts - truancy, benefit fraud and Council Tax non-payment. The Government's favoured Single Justice Procedure has brought more out-of-court settlements, but also more 'not guilty pleas'.
The other thing Ms Nandy should be doing is steering the debate about future financing of the BBC towards a solution, rather than leaving all options open. What else is her department for ?
Local elections coming up; Labour wants to look tough on the BBC to outflank Reform. Because local elections stopped being about local issues around 879, when Ceolwulf lost control of Mercia County Council. And every journalist since the Venerable Bede writes about the locals as if they were US midterms.
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