BBC to axe 450 in local cost-cutting
UNDER PRESSURE Beeb
SEVEN BBC regional TV news presenters are to be axed as part of a drive to save £25million from BBC England by 2022.
They will go in a cull of 450 staff in regional TV news and current affairs, local radio and online news, it was revealed.
Local radio will be hit hard, with stations having just three daytime shows and none with two hosts.
The BBC must save £125million this year with more than 150 roles going in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Helen Thomas, director of BBC England, said “difficult decisions” had to be made. Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the National union of Journalists, said: “These are huge cuts.”
CHINA has threatened to take action over Britain’s plan to give three million Hong Kong residents the right to settle here if they flee because of tough new security laws.
In an escalation of tensions between London and Beijing, Chinese officials branded the offer a breach of “basic norms of international relations”.
Hong Kong residents have already clashed with police over the rules, which came into force on Tuesday.
It gives the authorities the right to jail those carrying out activities deemed subversive, such as anti-government demonstrators. The Chinese Embassy in the UK said: “We firmly oppose this and reserve the right to take corresponding measures. We urge the British to view
CAR KILLER Driver Rizwan Ali
People arrested on Wednesday by police over protests objectively the national security legislation for Hong Kong, respect China’s position and concerns, refrain from interfering in Hong Kong affairs in any way.”
Former first secretary in the British Embassy in Beijing Roderic Wye said possible “corresponding measures” would be high profile but without doing
“too much damage to their interests”. He added they may also be looking for ways to deter British national overseas (BNO) residents in Hong Kong from applying for the passports to which they are entitled.
He said: “They may also insist the
people concerned are Chinese citizens and the BNO passports are not valid travel documents.” Boris Johnson has accused Beijing of a “serious breach” of its treaty with Britain by imposing the laws.
The PM said he would allow people with BNO status to apply for visas to live and work in the UK.
Downing Street last night stood firm. The PM’s official spokesman said: “We were very clear in the action we would take if China imposed this law. We will now do exactly what we said we would do.” Around 370 people were held on Wednesday in Hong
PM SPOKESMAN ON UK’S OBJECTION TO NEW LAW
Chief executive Carrie Lam gives speech
Riot police stop and search people on march
Kong, which was handed back to China by the UK in 1997 and is now led by Carrie Lam. Ten of the arrests involved violations of the new law, police said.
China expert Professor Stephen Chan from SOAS university in London warned Beijing could extradite demonstrators. He said: “It is one thing to face punishment under the law in Hong Kong, it is another to face it in China.”
He also blamed Donald Trump’s “cack-handed” attitude towards China over trade and other issues for Beijing’s heavy-handed behaviour in Hong Kong.
Prof Chan added: “If there had been better diplomacy with China, it would have been softer-handed in terms of its diplomacy towards Hong Kong.”
We were clear in the action we would take if China imposed it