Responding to the news that 12 of the BBC’s top paid stars are male, Liberal Democrat Culture Spokesperson Baroness Jane Bonham-Carter said:

“Unfortunately, this is not surprising. A year ago news broke of the horrendous gender pay imbalance within the BBC, and the public, as well as BBC employees, were rightly outraged. It appears that little has been done to combat this.

“All organisations are obliged to tackle any signs of a gender pay imbalance. However, as a public service the BBC is obliged to go above and beyond to support and nurture female talent, as well as to adequately represent ethnic and sexual minorities.”