BBC Local Radio

I congratulate the hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey). I have enjoyed coming to her weekly—or so it seems because of her success in securing debates—90-minute debates in Westminster Hall. I also congratulate her on speaking so strongly, passionately and ably on behalf, as she put it, of the licence payers. Their voice is not heard sufficiently in the corridors of power in the BBC, and I hope that the voices raised this morning will resonate throughout the BBC. I have not heard a word against local radio, which is no surprise, and I am certain that the message will be heard loud and clear. I hope that the Minister will convey the messages from this morning. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Winchester (Mr Brine) and his stories about dog food tasting, which made us all sit up. I wish to make two straightforward points. We, as parliamentarians, are rightly and inevitably obsessed with how we achieve a functioning democracy. Therefore, one of the obsessions with which we will inevitably engage to ensure that we get one is ensuring that we have a functioning media—a means by which people have communication that informs them in terms of their engagement with the political decision-making process. If all that the broadcast media can do is provide generalised national reporting or press releases read out on the hour quickly, interspersed with the extensive playing of records, it will not significantly contribute to the kind of functioning democracy that we, across all parties, desire. For that reason, we rightly want to support and protect what we have now—in fact, if anything, we need to enhance what BBC local radio is achieving. The BBC has become involved in a race. I do not know whether it is the same in other areas, but six or seven years ago in my part of the world, BBC Radio Cornwall adopted ““Radio Anywhere”” jingles and a broadcast style and manner that is replicated in the grid pattern of BBC local radio across the country. I am not sure that that is necessarily a move in the right direction. It is the idiosyncrasies, which have come out today in hon. Members' descriptions of how BBC local radio reflects their areas, that are precisely what our local radio stations should value.