The Culture Secretary has refused to rule out making Netflix and Amazon Prime users pay the licence fee after the BBC announced a slew of cuts in a jobs bloodbath.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Lisa Nandy rejected funding the BBC through a levy on streamers or direct taxation, but stopped short of saying the licence fee would not be extended to cover streamers. 

It comes as the BBC attempts to make £500 million in savings over two years, with plans for sweeping job cuts, TV programmes to be decommissioned and radio shows axed. 

Ms Nandy told the Commons earlier she had 'concerns' about the cuts at the BBC. 

The BBC is predominantly funded through the licence fee, which rose earlier this year to £180 annually.

However, in recent years, it has faced increasing pressure from streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+ as the British public moves away from the traditional broadcasters. 

In May, it was reported that streaming subscribers could be forced to pay the TV licence fee to safeguard the future of the corporation, with sources saying the Government was wary of moving towards a model funded by advertising or subscription.

Ms Nandy's comments came in response to Tory MP Bradley Thomas who asked her to 'rule out extending the BBC licence fee to streaming services' at Culture Questions in the Commons on Thursday.

She said: 'We have been very careful not to get drawn into speculation about the future funding arrangements for the BBC, except to say that, we have ruled out a levy on streamers, and we have also ruled out direct taxation going to fund the BBC, because of the need for the BBC to retain its independence.'

Ms Nandy added that she looks forward to debating the issue in the Commons when it comes up during the charter renewal process.  

As part of its cuts, the corporation intends to decommission TV programmes and axe radio shows, amid plans to reduce spending on commissioning by £80 million in the 2027 to 2028 financial year.

This includes dramatic changes to Radio 4's schedule, with The World Tonight facing the chop and the number of permanent presenters on Today will be reduced from five to four. 

And with cuts to shows comes job losses, with an internal note to staff revealing that chief content officer Kate Phillips estimates around 100 jobs will be cut from the BBC content division by the end of the financial year.

It follows the BBC's director general Matt Brittin's announcement that 550 of the planned 1,800 to 2,000 job cuts at the corporation will be taken from BBC News and TV and radio-related roles.  

In the Commons on Thursday, shadow culture secretary Nigel Huddleston argued the current scale and financial model of the BBC 'is clearly unsustainable'.

'Yesterday the BBC announced controversial cuts, including the World Tonight and Moneybox Live, without anyone in Parliament expressing a view, that is not right,' he added.

Responding, Ms Nandy said: 'I share some of the concerns that he has about the way in which this recent announcement was made by the BBC.

'And particularly one of the things that I was keen to ensure is that decisions were made by the new director-general, not made in the interim, in the absence of a permanent director-general that could affect the future of the BBC and the services that we all rely on.'

BBC One's Breakfast will also be impacted by the cuts and will no longer be shown on Sunday mornings from September, and will instead be replaced by the BBC News Channel – which will shift towards an international focus in the hopes of broadening its audience outside the UK.

The production teams making Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg and Newsnight will merge and 5 Live Weekend Breakfast will become a two-hour-long programme from April.

Other plans include TV production at weekends being shared across the News Channel and BBC One bulletins, as well as a proposed review of broadcast TV channels and the radio network portfolio as audiences move online.

The BBC will also review its chief news presenter roles, while 100 to 150 hours of originated programmes across all commissioning genres will be reduced by the end of the 2027 to 2028 financial year.

John Slinger, Labour MP for Rugby, suggested the BBC should be 'looking at the vast salaries they pay to their stars, both in entertainment and in news, in order to retain programmes like The World Tonight'.

Responding, Ms Nandy said the BBC 'remains the most trusted source of news in this country and one of the most trusted sources of news across the world'.

She added: 'I do want to recognise that the BBC has had some serious challenges to deal with, and has had to make some difficult decisions, but this Government is determined to support their efforts by ensuring that the BBC is adequately funded.'