Plaid Cymru has condemned Westminster-driven cuts to the BBC that will lead to the broadcaster shedding as much as 10% of its Welsh workforce.
Bethan Jenkins AM, the party’s spokesperson for heritage, language and sport, argued that losing as many as 120 jobs over the coming five years, along with a 16% cuts in funding, merely underlined Plaid arguments that all broadcasting matters should be devolved to Wales – a proposal currently being resisted by the Welsh Government.
Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson on broadcasting, Bethan Jenkins AM, said:
“BBC Wales’ fundamental contribution to public life in this country is being driven by a draconian, ill-thought-out ConDem agenda, and informed by a Tory notion that public organisations have enough fat that they can be trimmed by a tenth – in this case, literally decimated.
“Even if so-called backroom jobs do go, BBC Wales cannot assure continued quality, because the work of the people that go will fall on those that remain. They will be stretched even thinner.
“The ultimate upshot of these cuts is that, along with what is happening with other Welsh broadcasters and to media organisations; we are now living through a democratic paradox. People in Wales now have more devolved power, but what is being decided in their name is being reported on less and less.
“This is no way for a democracy to thrive, and it gives fresh impetus to why I originally called for an investigation into the media in Wales. That investigation must now consider the devolution of broadcasting to Wales as an option for the future.
“It is crucial that decisions affecting the lives of people in Wales are taken here in Wales. We need to stop BBC Wales being salami sliced in this way, and equip it so that it may accurately reflect a changing Wales.”
