Labour denies BBC changes

Labour last night denied reports that it was planning to strip the BBC's governors of most of their powers. A party official said he would be telephoning to assure the corporation that Labour had no plans to merge the Independent Television Commission and the telecommunications regulator, Oftel, to create a new Office of Communications.

The shadow Broadcasting minister, Lewis Moonie, was quoted in the Guardian newspaper as saying: "I would not like to call the BBC governors a failure - but they have to wear two hats, which has ensured they have done neither job very well in the past."