The BBC is uniquely funded and needs to provide unique services. In Chesterfield we are well served by Radio Sheffield and Radio Derby.

The BBC shouldn’t be trying to compete with streaming services, instead it should preserve services that are precious and unique, like BBC Radio.

Toby Perkins: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. The BBC is uniquely funded, and it needs to provide unique services. In Chesterfield we are well served by both Radio Sheffield and Radio Derby and the quality of journalism on there is outstanding. It is not a public problem if the BBC is losing market share to Amazon or Netflix, those organisations do what they do well. The BBC shouldn’t be looking to replicate them but should be looking to preserve those things that are precious and unique and BBC radio is absolutely one of those things.

Minister: He makes his point very powerfully and very well. This is a core mission of the BBC to provide this kind of distinctive locally content that relates to people, to British people in the communities in which they live and I think that if it’s not concentrating on precisely this kind of content there are wider questions to ask about whether it’s delivering its remit in the right way.