UK likely to dismantle BBC: Report

The British government is considering a plan to break up the BBC and remove its independent status, in the wake of a bitter row over Iraq war, a report said. Government papers detailing possible changes to the BBC’s structure propose breaking it into separate regional entities for England, Scotland, Wales and N Ireland, according to The Sunday Times.

The documents were drawn up by ‘‘senior civil servants’’, the paper said, and also suggested that the job of ensuring the BBC’s impartiality could be taken away from the corporation’s board of governors. The BBC, which is independently run despite being financed by public money, is currently facing perhaps the worst breakdown in relations with the government in its 82-year history.