The outgoing Director General of the BBC has issued a stark warning that the United Kingdom should be spending double its current investment in the corporation's World Service to maintain its global influence against well-funded rivals.
A Stark Warning to Westminster
Tim Davie, who is set to step down from his role in November, delivered his urgent message while being questioned by MPs on the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday, 8 January 2026. The 58-year-old executive argued that the scale of spending by nations like China and Russia, which he cited as running into billions of pounds on their international media operations, makes increased UK investment "absolutely paramount".
He described the BBC World Service, the planet's largest radio network, as a "unique and precious UK strategic asset". Davie stated plainly: "I think the UK should be spending double the amount it spends on this service, without question."
Financial Pressure and Job Cuts
Davie's plea comes against a backdrop of severe financial strain at the broadcaster. He revealed that the BBC's income has fallen by £1 billion in real terms since 2010, exacerbated by a two-year freeze on the licence fee and rising inflation.
This pressure has led to significant cuts. Earlier this month, it was announced the BBC World Service will cut 130 jobs in an effort to save £6 million in the next financial year. Further cost-cutting has seen roles axed within the UK and internationally, including at BBC Monitoring, which analyses global media.
When asked if the World Service had borne a disproportionate share of cuts, Davie responded that it had not been singled out, suffering in line with the wider BBC. However, he emphasised that the service has faced a 30% real-terms decline in funding over the past decade.
The Licence Fee Dilemma
The Director General acknowledged the difficult balancing act between funding international services and delivering for domestic licence fee payers. He argued that asking households, whose budgets are under "enormous pressure," for more money specifically for the World Service was "untenable".
"For me to announce, 'I'm sorry, you won't be getting Radio 4 or all the other things we do, but we'll be paying money to the World Service', was not something we could do," Davie told the committee.
His strategy, therefore, was to protect the World Service from deeper cuts relative to other BBC departments, despite the financial argument for reducing it further from a purely domestic perspective. The service did receive a funding boost in the autumn budget to protect its foreign language output, but Davie's testimony suggests this is far from sufficient in the long-term geopolitical contest for influence.
