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BBC chiefs were planning a big expansion of broadcasts from outside London to assuage critics as they came under fire today from both sides of the new House of Commons.

The corporation is aiming to demonstrate that it is listening to the whole of Britain following the general election campaign, when it was accused of glossing over the strong views of Leave voters in the North and even of letting its impartiality slip.

Political pressures on the BBC intensified this morning as one of Jeremy Corbyn’s closest allies accused the corporation of “conscious” bias against the defeated Labour leader and a Cabinet minister weighed in against prosecuting people who fail to pay their licence fee.

The assault on the national broadcaster came on the day that victorious Tory leader Boris Johnson was appointing a culture secretary to replace Nicky Morgan, who stood down at the election.

The appointment was part of a limited reshuffle, with major changes postponed to February. Labour shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald called into question the BBC’s impartiality during the election saying they had “consciously” played a part in Mr Corbyn’s loss.

“I’m very worried about our public service broadcaster,” he told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme after being quizzed about the Labour leader’s “toxicity” with many voters.

Pushed by surprised presenter Justin Webb on whether he really believed the BBC was partly responsible for Mr Corbyn’s loss, Mr McDonald added: “I am saying that they played a part. I’m really worried about the drift. You’ve seen the catalogue of criticisms that we’re making.

“We’ve accepted that the print media are against us, but my goodness me... We got this wrong, but if the BBC are going to hold themselves out as somehow having conducted themselves in an impartial manner I think they’ve really got to have a look in the mirror. We’ve got a lot to say about this.”

Mr McDonald went on to say Mr Corbyn was a “principled decent man who was vilified”.

The Labour assault comes after BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg was targeted on social media by far-Left trolls who have accused her of pro-Tory bias. She was also booed when she tried to ask a question at Labour’s manifesto launch.

BBC problems intensified over the weekend when it emerged that Downing Street has decided to boycott Today, the BBC’s flagship morning current affairs programme, over what it sees as undue hostility and partisanship by presenters.

No senior minister went on the programme this morning.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick, speaking on Sky News, upped the pressure for the BBC to stop being allowed to prosecute non-payers of the licence fee.

“We are going to look at the licence fee because we do think it is an unusual arrangement that it is criminalised,” he said. “That’s putting a lot of pressure, which I think is unnecessary, on the criminal justice system.”

He went on: “It doesn’t seem sensible to me that many members of the public, including vulnerable people, are being taken to court.”

Mr Jenrick added that people were “ending up in court for something that they wouldn’t in other walks of life, if they were paying bills to other companies and organisations.”

The Evening Standard understands that BBC chiefs are already discussing how they can respond to the unprecedented backlash from both sides of the political divide.

It is planning an increase in reporting and outside broadcasts from the North and Midlands, which revealed critical swings of opinion in the election, and other regions.

Insiders said it will not mean opening new centres or hiring a lot more staff, but will involve telling existing stars to get out of the capital city more often and put their ears to the ground in far-flung regions.

BBC insiders defended the Today programme but also pointed out that it is not their only current affairs programme and any criticism of it should not be used to attack the whole corporation.

Insiders said BBC Breakfast, Jeremy Vine’s show on Radio 2 and Radio 5 Live also ran extensive interviews during the election to massive audiences.

On the legal status of the licence fee, the BBC pointed out that it has already decided to means-test licences for over-75s, when free licences for the elderly are abolished, and has no intention of prosecuting people in that age group.

A furious riposte to the attacks on the BBC was posted by veteran news presenter Huw Edwards, who said “toxic cynicism and accusations of bias” were putting pressures on dedicated news teams.

“And you realise yet again that the real purpose of many of the attacks is to undermine trust in institutions which have been sources of stability over many decades,” he said. “The apparent purpose, in short, is to cause chaos and confusion.”

He said creating a balanced report when emotions were running high was hard enough, adding: “Trying to do so while dealing with relentlessly vitriolic attacks is doubly challenging. So I want to pay tribute to my colleagues for doing their best every day on behalf of the licence payer.”

Tory sources said the PM is planning major changes in Whitehall, including a new Department for Borders and Immigration, leaving the Home Office to focus on fighting crime.

And Mr Johnson’s senior aide Dominic Cummings is to oversee Ministry of Defence spending, The Times claimed.