Gordon Brown backs BBC 6 Music campaign

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has given his backing for the campaign to save digital station BBC 6 Music from closure.

Speaking to the Radio Times, Brown revealed that he is a keen music fan who sees the value in 6 Music, which is facing the axe under the BBC's strategy review.

"[I] think, personally, that the BBC should not have succumbed to pressure to cut certain things - but they have," said the Prime Minister.

Brown stated his preference for listening to 6 Music's DJ lineup of Jarvis Cocker and Lauren Laverne over Radio 1 or Radio 2. He also joined listeners, musicians and the creative industries in calling for the digital-only station to be saved.

"It's the next stage you worry about. The Conservatives have said that they'll hive off Radio 1," said Brown.

"A lot of things that the BBC does are incredibly creative and quite risky. But this is a necessary means of us being a creative society."

The Prime Minister further expressed his belief that it is vital for the BBC to remain funded by the BBC licence fee in order for it to maintain editorial freedom.

"I want to safeguard the independence of the BBC and I think the licence fee is the means by which you do it," he said.

"Any proposal to massively cut the fee or to strip the BBC of its independence - or alternatively, to remove its ability to make certain programmes - is a huge mistake.

"I don't think politicians should make that decision about what the BBC produces. I think the BBC should make that decision."

The BBC's strategy review is currently under public consultation at the BBC Trust, with the governing body's chairman Sir Michael Lyons recently indicating that protests could result in a U-turn on 6 Music's closure.

Yesterday, the BBC dismissed as "speculation" reports that 6 Music's playlist and DJ lineup could be saved under the new branding of Radio 2 Extra.