I will say to you—I don’t disagree with the fundamentals of his point—but I will say to him that those matters are rightly matters for the National Assembly and not for Government. It is absolutely fundamental to me that the division between the Executive and the legislature is respected and that the legislature itself determines how it operates rather than suggestions from myself, which might or might not be taken well.

I will bring my remarks to a close by saying this: I hope that we are establishing a new way forward; a way forward that will ensure that we do continue to have a vibrant public broadcaster in the United Kingdom; a broadcaster that reflects the life of the whole of the United Kingdom wherever we may be and wherever we may be living; a broadcaster that reflects the United Kingdom to itself and projects the United Kingdom to the world. There are important issues that we need to address and we’ll continue to need to address following this charter in terms of a mid-term review, the licence fee settlement and other changes to the framework agreement. But we have here an opportunity to ensure that public service broadcasting remains in the United Kingdom, open and free; to ensure that we have accountability and to ensure that the accountability is to the democratic institutions of the United Kingdom and not simply to the Governments of the United Kingdom. I think that’s an important principle on which we have progressed over the last few weeks and months.