MPs call for reversal of World Service funding cuts

MPs called on the government to reverse its proposed World Service funding cuts today in a House of Commons debate.

Led by Conservative MP Richard Ottaway, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, MPs debated Ottaway's motion calling on the government to review the proposed cuts.

The motion follows a report into the potential effect of the cuts issued by the committee last month.

Ottaway said that a 16 per cent cut to World Service funding – from £241 million to £212 million – was "disproportionate" in comparison with an average 10 per cent cut to the rest of the Foreign Office, which currently funds the service.

Foreign secretary William Hague responded to the committee report yesterday, denying that the proposed cuts to the service were disproportionate, and said that transferring the World Service to the licence fee would ensure "a more sustainable future" for the service.

But Ottaway called for a "full reversal of the proposed cuts" in today's Commons debate.

"It is the view of the foreign affairs select committee that the World Service is a key component of British soft power."

He acknowledged the "economic constraints and the background to this report", but said the committee "believed it is a mistake to implement the proposed heavy cuts to its budget."

Hague claimed in his response to the report that the share of Foreign Office funding allotted to the World Service would remain the same, but according to Ottaway the committee's research showed that it will fall from 16 per cent to 15.4 per cent.

"While that 0.4 per cent may not seem much," Ottaway said, "it accounts for £6.6 million of the FCO budget".

Labour MP for Ilford South Mike Gapes said that the service was "vital for British international protection" and warned that the proposed cuts would "drastically reduce the World Service's global footprint".

Several MPs speaking in the debate called the service "the jewell in the crown", and six of seven speeches during this morning's debate echoed Ottaway's call for a review.

Former Labour defence secretary Bob Ainsworth warned that the cuts risked seeing the World Service "eclipsed" by other international broadcasters which are investing.

"Others are investing in this area and at the time of the Arab Spring we are seeing Al Jazeera becoming increasingly powerful in terms of the influence it brings to bear.

"We are in great danger of being completely eclipsed as far as our influence is concerned."

Speaking last, minister of state at the Foreign Office David Lidington defended the governments cuts program:

"As much as I dislike having to support cuts to the budget of the World Service, I simply do not think we can stand up and say we support cuts in general but disagree in particular.

"The Foreign Office is not immune ... I don't think the World Service can be exempt from difficult choices."

Ottaway said that the minister "must have felt a bit lonely today".

"There have been seven speeches today, six of which have supported the thrust of the motion, and then the minister's, which has been more defensive and more in line with the government's position.

Ottaway closed the debate by saying: "The House of Commons is serious about this and I hope the Foreign Office will be too".

The World Service has is currently funded by the Foreign Office, but from 2014 its budget will come under the BBC licence fee.

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