BBC Local Radio

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) on securing this important debate. I wonder whether the BBC has lost the plot and completely forgotten that it is a public sector broadcaster. Several hon. Members have discussed the vital nature of the BBC to local communities. I draw on the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for North Thanet (Mr Gale) about Radio Kent; I was brought up in Kent, and I remember sitting around the radio waiting to hear whether my school had been closed—those were exciting times.