David Cameron pledges support for a 'very strong' S4C, despite cuts

David Cameron has affirmed his support for Welsh language TV channel S4C and the safeguarding of its funding.

During prime minister's questions, Mr Cameron said he wanted to make sure it remained a "very strong channel".

He was responding to a question Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire Conservative MP Simon Hart.

The broadcaster's grant from UK ministers is being cut from £6.7m to £5m by 2020, but most of S4C's funding now comes from the BBC licence fee.

Mr Hart said: "The prime minister has always been a staunch supporter of the Welsh TV channel S4C, set up under the Thatcher government.

"So could he use this opportunity to reinforce his support for the channel and the commitment we've made to safeguard its funding?"

Mr Cameron replied: "S4C is a very important part of our broadcasting structure, is very popular and well liked in Wales and I want to make sure we meet both the wording and the spirit of our manifesto promise to make sure this continues to be a very strong channel."

S4C chairman Huw Jones said he was "greatly encouraged by the nature of the prime minister's response".

"We hope that his commitment to honour the wording and the spirit of his party's manifesto undertaking to protect S4C funding means that the door is open to further discussions to give expression to that support," he said.

'Very sympathetic'

Mr Hart led a Commons debate on how Welsh language TV channel S4C should be funded in the future, during the early hours of Wednesday morning, in which the government said it was "very sympathetic" to calls for an independent review of broadcasting in Wales.

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey told MPs: "We have always said that we will look at S4C as part of the [BBC] charter review, but I have also made it clear that we are very sympathetic to calls for a more wide-ranging independent review as well because we want to continue to safeguard S4C and to see its success."

Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, called for "an independent review of broadcasting in Welsh and of S4C, including the departmental cuts and the cuts to the BBC and the challenges of the new digital platforms".

Mr Hart said ministers "have not been particularly averse" to such a plan.