Maria Miller just came up with the most convincing case for Scottish independence yet
Culture secretary Maria Miller must really want a yes vote.
Speaking today at the Oxford Media Convention the cabinet minister said that if Scotland does vote for independence this September, it will be a vote to leave the institutions of the UK.
That, Miller says, would include leaving the BBC.
We're sold. A Scottish independence vote would free those north of the border from a nasty and regressive tax.
As Ryan Bourne wrote in October, "charging everyone who watches any TV £145.50 a year is becoming indefensible in theory and unenforcable in practice."
The state broadcaster was created for an entirely different purpose than the one it now serves, and it's long past due that the BBC was privatised and made to compete with the plethora of other content providers that have emerged.
Since the BBC was founded in 1922, we've seen the introduction of satellite broadcasting, the internet, and ever cheaper and more flexible streaming services.
And as the range of broadcast mediums has grown, the BBC hasn't shrunk back, but has instead spread its reach across all of them. As the corporation's content ever more closely resembles that of a commercial provider, the special case for government protections has eroded.
Last August City AM revealed that prosecutions for TV licence offences are now responsible for a tenth of all UK court cases.