MP Bob Seely has joined other MPs speaking in parliament in opposition to BBC plans to reduce local news output from local radio stations.
Under the plans, BBC Radio Solent will see locally produced output fall from 100 hours to 60 hours with some programmes being shared with Oxfordshire and Berkshire.
Some BBC journalists have taken strike action against the planned cuts.
On Thursday 22 June, Conservative MP for Hemel Hempstead, Sir Mike Penning, moved a motion in the House of Commons asking the house to call on the BBC to reconsider its decision to reduce local news output from local radio journalism. He said the plans would have a negative impact on communities across the UK, reduce access to local news, information and entertainment and silence local voices.
Speaking in support of the motion Bob Seely MP said: “I fully support the motion and I call on the BBC to reconsider this incredibly poor decision to cut news output locally.
“I wrote a letter to BBC bigwigs about the plight of BBC Radio Solent and I am glad that seven other colleagues from across the House signed it.
“Instead of cutting back local BBC coverage, we should be investing in it and expanding it.”
Mr Seely went on to say: “In a perfect world, we would have our own BBC Isle of Wight, as we do not share that much in common with Dorset. What on earth we will share with Oxfordshire news-wise I do not know, because it is 100 miles away and on the mainland. We cannot have a further regionalisation of so-called local services.”
Mr Seely went on to praise the work of local BBC reporters: “I know my local BBC reporters, such as Peter Henley and Emily Hudson. I do not always agree with them, but I respect their integrity and the fact that they really care about the places they represent.
“They live there, and what happens in their communities in the Isle of Wight, Hampshire and Dorset matters to them.”
Mr Seely has written to the BBC alongside seven other Members of Parliament in the Solent region including Alan Whitehead MP, Tobias Elwood MP, Caroline Dinenage MP, Caroline Nokes MP, Richard Drax MP, The Rt Hon Dame Maria Miller DBE MP and Robert Syms MP.
He said: “I hope we get an answer from the [BBC] bigwigs and that they will reconsider. I hope that the Minister can impress on Ofcom the need to get a grip of the situation, because what is happening is wrong.”
