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The BBC TV licence fee is to rise - days after the corporation unveiled huge cuts at the public service broadcaster.

The cost of the annual television licence fee will increase from £154.50 to £157.50 from April 1.

This comes days after the company announced plans to take the axe to 450 jobs across its organisation to save £80million. As many as 50 posts will be cut from the World Service alone.

There was also outcry after the award-winning Victoria Derbyshire Show was cut.

Meanwhile last week, Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker called for the licence fee to be voluntary, describing it as "a tax" that people are "forced to pay".

The BBC starlet waded into the debate over whether or not the licence fee should be scrapped suggesting it should be something viewers opt into.

(Image: PA)

He says the price could then be raised, with proceeds being used to potentially provide discounts for elderly or disadvantaged viewers.

Lineker, who has pledged to take a pay cut as he negotiates a new deal with the BBC, said the licence fee is the corporation's "fundamental problem".

"You're forced to pay it if you want a TV, and therefore it's a tax," Lineker told the Guardian.

(Image: BBC/Pete Dadds)

"I've always said for a long time, I would make it voluntary. I don't know the logistics of how it would work.

"You would lose some people, but at the same time you'd up the price a bit.

"(The licence fee) is the price of a cup of coffee a week at the moment. If you put it up you could help older people, or those that can't afford it."

(Image: PA)

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The fee is set by the Government, which announced in 2016 that it would rise in line with inflation for five years from April 2017.

The new cost equates to £3.02 per week - or £13.13 per month, according to the broadcaster. The price change will not currently have an impact on the free over-75s TV licence.

In December, Boris Johnson said he was "looking at" abolishing the licence fee.

"At this stage we are not planning to get rid of all TV licence fees, though I am certainly looking at it," the Prime Minister said in the run-up to the election.

(Image: Getty)

The BBC cuts announced last Tuesday will affect the number of films produced by Newsnight, the number of staff working on 5 Live, and World Update on World Service English is being dropped.

There will also be a review on the number of presenters across the board and the way they work.

BBC staff who keep their jobs can expect to be moved out of London in the future.

The cuts are being made to save £80million, after the government's 'nuclear' decision to scrap free TV licences for over-75s.

(Image: PA)

BBC News chief Fran Unsworth dropped the bombshell at a staff meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

"With great sadness I will announce some job losses," she told her colleagues.

"Never in my career have I felt that the BBC is so under threat as it is today.

"We need to be honest with ourselves we are spending too much of our resources on traditional linear broadcasting and not enough on digital."

The corporation announced in spring 2019 that only over-75s receiving Pension Credit will be eligible for free TV licences.

Just 1.5 million OAPs are likely to be continue receiving free licences, while an estimated 3.7 million will lose out.

The Mirror is campaigning to save the benefit, with thousands of readers backing the fight by completing coupons in the paper.