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Politics UK Archive

A weekly look inside British politics from the BBC

*** This programme is no longer on-air, but please listen to our archive of available episodes ***

Issues affecting British social and political life.

*** This programme is no longer on-air, but please listen to our archive of available episodes ***

Politics UK is the weekly programme that covers British political and policy issues, economic and cultural change and Britain’s standing in Europe and the rest of the world in a way that is relevant to an international audience.  
It's the flagship programme for UK political analysis and debate on the BBC World Service.  
Leading politicians, commentators and intellectuals take part each week to discuss and reflect on the main events shaping British politics.

Politics UK

Politics UK Archive: 22/10/2010 Comprehensive Spending Review | Funding the BBC World Service 

Factual: Politics

22/10/2010

22/10/2010 Comprehensive Spending Review | Funding the BBC World Service 

BBC World Service - Politics UK Archive, 22/10/2010 Comprehensive Spending Review | Funding the BBC World Service

A weekly look inside British politics from the BBC with Edward Stourton.

This week's edition of Politics UK with Edward Stourton is devoted to what could be the most significant event of the Coalition's rule - the Comprehensive Spending Review

This week on Politics UK with Edward Stourton:

The Chancellor of the Exchequer says he's taking Britain back from the brink of bankruptcy, but will the medicine cure the patient or cause worse problems? Welfare bears the brunt, and the hope is getting people back to work, but with jobs cuts elsewhere is that realistic? Labour says cutting back the State is driven by ideology not necessity, but is that true? And bringing the World Service home, how will that affect its reputation and the listeners?

The defence budget survived the spending review in comparatively good shape - it is to be cut by 7.5%. Most of the job cuts will fall on civilians at the Ministry of Defence, however the army will lose 7000 soldiers. We asked Paddy Ashdown whether there are things the armed forces will no longer be able to do. 

The last Conservative Chancellor who had to announce anything like the cuts in spending proposed by George Osborne was Geoffrey Howe. We asked the now Lord Howe to share his thoughts on the current Chancellor's spending plans.

As the largest cuts are going to be in welfare spending - 7 billion on top of the previously announced 11 billion - we brought into the studio the former Conservative Social Services Secretary, Peter Lilley and Stephen Timms, the Shadow Financial Secretary, to discuss whether these cuts were fair.

From the middle of this decade, the World Service of the BBC will no longer be funded by the Foreign Office. The money will instead come from the television licence fee which pays for the BBC's domestic broadcasting. We asked a former head of the World Service, John Tusa to explain the implication of this change.

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