The BBC can help tackle a “crisis of trust” in UK society, the broadcaster’s director general has said.

Tim Davie has used a speech to set out measures he says will allow the broadcaster to play a leading role in reversing a breakdown in trust in information and institutions, as well as combating division and disconnection between people.

They include expanding fact-checking service BBC Verify, giving children lessons about disinformation, and doing more to scrutinise local politicians.

He also said the system of funding the BBC “should be reformed and should be modernised” – but didn’t say whether the licence fee should survive or what should replace it.

Mr Davie used the speech to civic and community leaders in Salford to set out his vision for the corporation’s future, and the role it can play in the UK.

“The BBC is ready to play its full part – not simply defending tradition, but shaping the future,” he said.

“A future where trusted information strengthens democracy, where every child has a fair start, where creativity fuels growth and social capital, and where no-one is left behind in the digital age.”

Mr Davie added: “The future of our civilised, cohesive, democratic society is, for the first time in my life, at risk.”

The BBC’s current royal charter, which sets out the terms and purposes of its existence, expires in 2027, and negotiations with the government about its renewal are ramping up.

The BBC must “reform faster and get more support to avoid decline”, he said.

He said he was not asking for the “status quo” in funding, and said he would “keep an open mind” about the future of the licence fee or what could replace it.

Any future method of funding must ensure the BBC remains a universal service, he stressed.

Asked by BBC News whether the days of the TV licence are over, he replied: “I think a universal payment is not over. What it’s called, I think, is slightly secondary.

“The thing is, do we want a universal fee? The current licence fee works and I think is a very good system, but we are saying that based on changing audience behaviour and these huge changes in the world, the system should be reformed and should be modernised.

“But what we do want is a way in which everyone pays for the BBC fairly, and that is absolutely what we’re hunting for.”

Funding the BBC from advertising or subscription would not “pass the test of building a universal trusted public service”, he said.

He also called for “more help” from the government to fund the World Service, calling it a “priceless national asset”, and saying “the government should invest for significant growth, not survival”.

However, there have been recent reports that ministers have asked BBC bosses to draw up plans for cuts to World Service funding.

He also reminded BBC presenters to avoid calling the corporation’s impartiality into question on social media, after complaints about Match of the Day host Gary Lineker, who shared and deleted a post about Zionism featured an illustration of a rat.

Asked whether Lineker’s post broke the BBC’s social media rules, Mr Davie replied: “The BBC’s reputation is held by everyone, and when someone makes a mistake, it costs us.

“I think we absolutely need people to be exemplars of the BBC values and follow our social media policy. It’s as simple as that.”

In his speech, Mr Davie argued that the BBC could play a key part in making the UK a “global leader in trusted information”, support democracy, boost education and economic growth, and improve digital access.

The BBC’s future would involve “doubling down on impartiality, championing free, fair reporting alongside landmark investigative journalism, investing in BBC Verify and InDepth as well as increasing transparency and holding our nerve amidst culture wars”, he said.

The BBC can “help turn the tide” and improve trust by “dramatically increasing” the amound of news coverage on platforms like YouTube and Tik Tok have a stronger presence amid the online noise.

It will also combine AI agent technology with BBC journalism to create “a new gold standard fact checking tool”, he said, but without relinquishing editorial oversight.

“Our aim is to work globally with other public service broadcasters to ensure a healthy core of fact-based news.”

The BBC will also:

• Expand its expand Local Democracy Reporting Service from focusing on local councils to scrutinise health authorities, police and crime commissioners, and regional mayors
• Create specialist BBC Insight teams across the UK to do more investigative reporting, and expand local BBC Verify and InDepth work
• Launch new political debate radio shows for different areas, modelled on Radio 4’s Any Questions
• Give every child “proper training on disinformation” and potentially develop qualifications in disinformation studies
• Offer a new BBC family account for every parent of a young child, offering support at key milestones from birth to leaving school
• Move more executive roles outside London

The BBC says it is the most trusted news provider in the UK, with 45% of the population naming it as the source they trusted the most in 2024. That is down from 57% a decade ago.

Mr Davie also called for a national plan to switch off traditional broadcast transmissions in the 2030s, and ensure a “smooth” transition to internet-only delivery of programmes.

The BBC could launch its own device aimed at people who haven’t switched to streaming, based on the existing Freely online service, Mr Davie said.

“We want to double down on Freely as a universal free service to deliver live TV over broadband.

“And we want to consider developing and launching a streaming media device with Freely capabilities built in, with a radically simplified user interface specifically designed to help those yet to benefit from IP services.”

The UK government has hit back at suggestions the tariff agreement it reached with the US last week could be damaging to China.

It said there was “no such thing as a veto on Chinese investment” in the deal.

The UK-US agreement rowed back on big hikes in tariffs on metals and cars imposed by President Donald Trump, but it also included conditions requiring the UK to “promptly meet” US demands on the “security of the supply chains” of steel and aluminium products exported to America.

Beijing fears this could see it being excluded from supplying US-bound goods to the UK, telling the Financial Times it was a “basic principle” that bilateral trade deals should not target other countries.

At a regular press conference on Tuesday China’s foreign ministry spokesperson was asked about the UK’s trade agreements with the US and India.

Lin Jian said: “As for the trade agreement… between the UK and relevant countries, I would like to point out that cooperation between countries should not target or harm the interests of third parties.”

China is the world’s second biggest economy and the UK’s fifth biggest trading partner. In 2024 total bilateral trade hit £98.4bn.

In response to the latest comments from China, the UK government said the agreement with the US was “in the national interest to secure thousands of jobs across key sectors, protect British businesses and lay the groundwork for greater trade in the future”.

Any “external provisions” in the agreement were “not designed to undermine mutually beneficial economic relations with any third country”, it said.

“As the Chief Secretary to the Treasury clearly stated, there is no such thing as a veto on Chinese investment in this trade deal.”

It added that “trade and investment with China remain important to the UK.”

Under the UK-US deal Trump’s blanket 10% tariffs on imports from countries around the world still applies to most UK goods entering the US.

But the deal has reduced or removed tariffs on some of the UK’s exports, including steel and aluminium.

The terms of the agreement say the UK will “work to promptly meet US requirements on the security of the supply chains of steel and aluminium products intended for export to the United States and on the nature of ownership of relevant production facilities”.

The US and China have been engaged in a tariffs war since the beginning of this year.

The US buys much more from China ($440bn) than it sells to it ($145bn), which is something Trump has long been unhappy with.

His reasoning in part for introducing tariffs, and higher ones on countries which sell more to the US than they buy, is to encourage US consumers to buy more American-made goods, increase the amount of tax raised and boost manufacturing jobs.

However, on Monday, Trump said talks over the weekend between the US and China had resulted in a “total reset” in terms of trade between the two countries, with tariffs either being cut or suspended on both sides.

The result is that additional US tariffs on Chinese imports – that’s the extra tariffs imposed in this recent stand-off – will fall from 145% to 30%, while recently-hiked Chinese tariffs on some US imports will fall from 125% to 10%.

The move is seen as helping to defuse the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.

At least 50 Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli air strikes in northern Gaza, a local hospital says.

The Indonesian hospital reported that 22 children and 15 women were among the dead after a number of homes in Jabalia town and refugee camp were hit overnight. A video shared online appeared to show at least a dozen bodies on the floor there.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. It had warned residents of Jabalia and neighbouring areas to evacuate on Tuesday after a Palestinian armed group launched rockets into Israel.

It came as the UN’s humanitarian affairs chief urged members of the UN Security Council to take action to “prevent genocide” in Gaza.

Speaking at a meeting in New York on Tuesday, Tom Fletcher accused Israel of “deliberately and unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians”.

He also called on Israel to lift its 10-week blockade on Gaza and criticised the Israeli-US plan to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid by using private companies, saying it was a “fig leaf for further violence and displacement” of Palestinians.

Israel’s envoy to the UN, Danny Danon, said the accusations were “baseless and outrageous”.

He insisted the existing system for aid was “broken” because it was being used to help Hamas’s war effort – an allegation both the UN and the armed group have denied.

Local health officials said a total of 70 people were killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza on Wednesday, most of them around Jabalia.

Residents of the northern area reported hearing multiple explosions overnight, and videos shared by activists showed flames lighting up the sky.

As he clambered over the rubble of a collapsed building, Hadi Moqbel, 42, said several members of his family were killed.

“They fired two rockets, they told us the house of Moqbel [had been hit],” he told Reuters news agency.

“We came running, we saw body parts on the ground, children killed, [a] woman killed and a baby killed… He was two months old.”

On Tuesday night, the Israeli military issued what it described as a “final warning” to residents of Jabalia town, Jabalia camp and five neighbouring areas.

It ordered them to evacuate immediately to shelters in Gaza City, saying Israeli forces would “attack with great force any area from which rockets are launched”.

Earlier, the military said three rockets launched from Gaza crossed into Israeli territory, triggering sirens in Israeli border communities and the town of Sderot. Two of the rockets were intercepted by the Israeli air force and the third fell in an open area, it added.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an armed group allied to Hamas, said it launched the rockets in response to what it called “Zionist massacres”.

Israel cut off all deliveries of aid and other supplies to Gaza on 2 March and resumed its offensive against Hamas on 18 March after the collapse of a two-month ceasefire.

The UN says 20% of the 2.1 million population has been displaced again, and that 70% of Gaza is now either within Israeli military “no-go” zones or under evacuation orders.

Severe shortages of food and fuel have forced all UN-supported bakeries and more than 60% of the 180 community kitchens providing hot meals to shut down.

A UN-backed assessment released on Monday warned that the entire population was facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people facing starvation.

The UN has said Israel is obliged under international law to ensure food and medical supplies for Gaza’s population. Israel has said it is complying with international law and there is no shortage of aid because thousands of lorry loads entered during the ceasefire.

Palestinians are hoping Hamas’s decision on Monday to release the last living Israeli-American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, could pave the way for a possible new ceasefire deal with Israel and the end of the blockade.

Hamas said it freed Mr Alexander as a goodwill gesture to US President Donald Trump, who is visiting the Middle East this week.

On Wednesday, Trump told a summit of Gulf leaders in Riyadh that he was hopeful that more of the 58 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza would be freed.

“All hostages must be released as a stepping stone to peace,” he said. “I think that’s going to be happening.”

At the same time, his special envoys Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler participated in a new round of talks in Qatar.

Witkoff told hostages’ relatives in Israel on Tuesday: “The president’s not going to tolerate anything other than everybody coming home.”

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said Israel is preparing to expand its military offensive in Gaza and insisted that nothing will stop the war.

He told injured reservist soldiers on Monday that Israeli forces would go into the territory in the coming days “with full force to complete the operation” to destroy Hamas.

“There will be no situation where we stop the war. A temporary ceasefire might happen, but we are going all the way,” he added.

On Tuesday, a massive Israeli air strike on the European hospital’s compound in Khan Younis killed at least 28 people, according to local officials.

The Israeli military described it as “a precise strike on Hamas terrorists who were operating in a command-and-control centre” underneath the hospital.

Israeli media reports said the target was Mohammed Sinwar, who is believed to have become the top Hamas leader in Gaza after his brother Yahya was killed by Israeli forces last October.

Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 52,928 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 2,799 since the Israeli offensive resumed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse has 128 rooms. From 7 May, it will be filled with cardinals participating in the conclave to elect the next Pope. But one room in the guesthouse is still sealed with a red ribbon, as it has been since its occupant died there on Easter Monday.

That suite will only be reopened when the new pope is chosen. The ribbon remains a tangible reminder of the man whose shoes the cardinals are looking to fill – but Pope Francis’s presence looms large over this conclave in many profound ways.

He spent 12 years in the role and appointed around 80% of the cardinals who will select his successor. He also looked to radically shake up the workings of the Catholic Church, moving its centre of gravity away from its hierarchy at the Vatican in the direction of the rank-and-file faithful all over the world, and focused on the poor and marginalised.

My conversations with cardinals and those assessing the needs of the Church in the days leading to this papal election almost always end up looking at what is required through the prism of what Pope Francis did in the role.

While in recent days there appears to have been a growing coalescence around the idea that Francis’s work should be built on, some of his critics remain far from convinced. So might there be enough of them to sway the vote as the Church attempts to reconcile the different outlooks and realities it faces around the globe?

During the two weeks that followed the Pope’s death, the cardinals met almost daily at the Vatican for pre-conclave gatherings known as general congregations.

While the conclave in the Sistine Chapel is limited to cardinals who haven’t yet reached the age of 80 (133 will participate in this one), these preliminary meetings are open to all 252 cardinals. Each attendee was given up to five minutes to air their views, though we know that some took longer.

It was during such a meeting ahead of the last conclave of 2013, in a speech lasting less than four minutes, that Pope Francis – then known as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina – made an impact, talking of a need to connect with those in the far reaches of the Catholic world.

As Pope, he made a conscious drive to appoint cardinals from such places. It is why this is the most diverse conclave there has ever been. For the first time Cape Verde, Haiti, South Sudan, Tonga, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea and Rwanda will be represented.

That diversity has already made its mark: the pre-conclave meetings are said to have brought to the fore just how different the needs of the Church appear to be depending on where in the world they are viewed.

In Europe, for example, a primary consideration for some might be finding ways to reinvigorate and make relevant the mission of the Church in the face of shrinking congregations, whereas elsewhere – in African or Asian countries – concerns may revolve around social issues, poverty and conflict resolution.

A prospective pope is likely to be one who has at least shown recognition of those very different realities.

The official titles that the new pope will inherit gives a sense of the breadth of the role: Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Sovereign of the State of Vatican City among them.

While some relate to the deeply spiritual, the last of those titles suggests the need for a statesman too, given that the pope is leader of a country, albeit the world’s smallest.

“Unlike your average state, the agenda of the Vatican is driven to an extent by where the pope reigning at the time puts their emphasis,” says Chris Trott, British ambassador to the Holy See. “On the face of it a very tiny state, [but it is] one that punches many, many times above its weight.

“And Pope Francis had 50 million followers on Twitter, so [it is] a very, very small state and an incredible global influencer.”

Pope Francis chose to amplify this part of the role, becoming a powerful global spokesman on behalf of those on the margins, including the poor and victims of war.

He also tried to play the role of peacemaker, though not everyone thought he was successful in that regard, in relation to China and Russia in particular.

According to Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the most senior Catholic figure in England and Wales, this expansion of the role is one reason so many even outside the faith are invested in the outcome of the conclave.

“There is a sense that the Pope in the person of Pope Francis became a figure who addressed everybody in the world… religious people and even those who do not have a religious affiliation,” he says.

“I’m more and more aware that it’s not just Catholics who are interested in this.”

For many voting cardinals, it is primarily issues within the Catholic Church that are under the spotlight, which brings about the question of the type of pope they want as a manager, and someone who runs the Church’s administrative body and its ministries.

While Pope Francis worked on improving the way the Church deals with the huge issues of sexual abuse and of financial corruption, it is his successor who will have to ensure that reforms are evenly applied across the Catholic world.

Even supporters of Pope Francis’s efforts to make changes to the way the Church relates to its rank-and-file believers, and the way he built bridges with those outside the faith, were sometimes left confused about how exactly he envisioned things should work.

Pope Francis changed the tone on social issues through comments he made, talking openly about subjects ranging from climate change to financial transparency within the Vatican. But throughout his papacy, some were unclear about what he meant or how it would be applied.

One mission he had was to take some of the power and decision-making away from the Vatican hierarchy and into the hands of rank-and-file Catholics.

Over nearly four years, at great effort, he commissioned what was, in effect, a poll of many of the world’s Catholics to find out what mattered to them. Lay people were invited to participate in the most recent bishop’s conference where the results of the survey were discussed.

The biggest issues raised related to greater roles for women in the running of the church and welcoming LGBT+ Catholics. But the meeting ended in some confusion, with little in the form of tangible steps forward and little clarity as to how lay people will help steer the future direction of the Church.

So, there is a general keenness for greater clarity from the new pope.

Throughout his pontificate, some vocal traditionalists opposed what they saw as Pope Francis straying from Church teaching and long-standing tradition.

In the pre-conclave meetings of cardinals, a number of those over the age of 80 (who because of their age would not be involved in voting) took the opportunity to play their part.

Most contributions remained secret, but one that was reported was that of 83-year-old Italian cardinal, Beniamino Stella. He criticised Pope Francis for “imposing his own ideas” by attempting to move Church governance away from the clergy.

And yet during the homily, or religious speech, at Pope Francis’s funeral, what appeared to resonate with the public in attendance – judging by the volume of the applause – was talk of the themes Francis chose to champion: the dignity of migrants, an end to war, and the environment.

This applause would have been heard loud and clear by the rows of cardinals.

In some senses, Pope Francis did have clarity in focusing on the Church being relevant to people in their daily lives and, indeed, their struggles. He was clear about connecting with the world outside the faith too.

“There is a sense that in the voice of the pope, there’s a voice of something that is needed,” says Cardinal Nichols. “For some people it’s a moral compass, for some people it’s the sense of being accepted, for some people it’s the insistence that we must look at things from the point of view of the poorest.

“That’s a voice that has fallen silent and our task is to find someone who can carry that forward.”

From the death of Pope Francis to the moment cardinals checked into the Santa Marta guesthouse and its overflow residences, there appeared to be a trend towards a desire for continuity of what Pope Francis had achieved.

Though perhaps that vision of continuity is one that could bring along more of his sceptics, in a way that was pragmatic. The word “unity” has been talked of a lot, after a period where the divides between supporters and detractors of the Pope’s vision could sometimes become ugly.

But in the end, when they step into the Sistine Chapel, the holiest of voting chambers, for all the pragmatism they may have taken into consideration before they cast their ballot, they will be urged to let God and the Holy Spirit guide them.

Top picture credit: Getty Images

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