BBC to cut party conference coverage

On the eve of director-general Greg Dyke's announcement of his plans to shake up management of the BBC, due at 10am tomorrow, it has been revealed that the corporation could be heading for a major confrontation with Parliament and its own governors.

It has emerged that BBC2 controller Jane Root wants to reduce dramatically or even end "gavel-to-gavel" coverage of the political conference season, according to senior corporation sources. The move comes barely three months after the BBC's governors forced Radio 4 to reinstate Yesterday in Parliament on FM. Now members of the BBC's political unit are bracing themselves for a showdown over BBC2's conference coverage. Presenter Andrew Neil was told 10 days ago that his Match of the Day-style conference round-up - Conference Talk - had been axed "for one year" because of the Sydney Olympics. However, few insiders think it will ever return. One senior source said: "The Olympics is a convenient excuse, but nobody believes the cuts will be reinstated."

Friends say Mr Neil is concerned that if the BBC will not run highlights it is unlikely to want to show whole speeches and debates.

Ms Root is said to be keen to drop the programme to free the slot for youth programming. Mr Dyke is known to be worried about the BBC's failure to attract young viewers and the cost of news and current of affairs broadcasting.

BBC insiders say that at a discussion a fortnight ago with Mr Dyke and Head of News Tony Hall, Ms Root lobbied to axe party political conference coverage altogether after the next election, leaving only the party leaders' and chancellors' speeches to be carried live.

She argued that "political junkies" could watch the "gavel-to-gavel proceedings" on the digital channel BBC Parliament. But politicians argued yesterday that this was a meaningless commitment until digital channels were more widely available. The news will come as a blow to those who believe that the BBC's public service remit is in danger of erosion. It is likely to meet with renewed opposition both from the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, and from the BBC governors.

Labour MP Claire Ward, a member of the Culture select committee, described the idea of further cutting conference coverage as "outrageous". She added: "The BBC appears to be forgetting it is a public service."

A Labour spokesman said excuses used to cut coverage would be seen as the BBC "dumbing down". A Lib Dem spokesman added: "This is symptomatic of the BBC thinking politics is boring. Party conference is one of the few occasions we can command attention on TV as a third party and we will not let it go lightly."

Live coverage of speeches does not draw big audiences: one programme in 1998 drew a zero rating. The BBC has been criticised for perceived profligacy at the conferences: last year it had applied for 420 passes to the Labour conference.

A BBC spokesman said: "Conference Talk was one part of extensive coverage from the BBC which nobody else does. There may well be changes, but there is no particular scaling back this year."