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BBC 5 LIVE CALLER: TOP PRESENTERS PAY SHOULD BE CAPPED Newsreader Huw Edwards earns up to £599,000 a year and the highest paid woman is Fiona Bruce on £399,000, according to figures released
by the broadcaster. Bosses have been forced to publish the salaries of those being paid more than £150,000-a-year. Chris Evans is the highest paid performer with a salary of £2.49m followed
by Match of the Day host Gary Lineker on £1.79m. The highest paid woman on the Beeb is Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkleman who earns £499,000 a year. GETTY BBC news stars
Jeremy Vine, Fiona Bruce and Huw Edwards RELATED ARTICLES The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg is on £249,000, below news presenter George Alagiah on £299,000 and Radio 4's
PM host Eddie Mair on £349,000). News host Sophie Raworth and BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty are on £199,000. Dan Walker, who also works on Football Focus and fronted slots from the
Rio Olympics, took home between £249,000. Their fellow BBC Breakfast presenters Louise Minchin and Charlie Stayt do not make the £150,000 bracket. BBC BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg
is on £249,000 Radio 4 Today presenter earns John Humphrys £649,000 for the morning news programme and other work, including presenting Mastermind. His co-host Nick Robinson is £299,000,
ahead of female presenter Mishal Husain on £249,000, who also presents TV news for the corporation. Their colleague Sarah Montague does not make the £150,000 pay bracket. Conservative MP
John Whittingdale, who brought in the requirement for the BBC to publish salaries when he was Culture Secretary, said: "This is not about saying people working at the BBC shouldn't
be paying more than £150,000. “There are people who I think the licence fee payer will think are good value for money at that price. "But I felt - and the Government felt at the time
- that this is public money and if somebody is earning the equivalent of 1,000 households' licence fees put together, then the licence fee payer deserves to know about that and reach a
judgment for themselves of whether that is good value for money." Mr Whittingdale insisted the motive was not to exert downward pressure on salaries He said: ”It was about
accountability. It was about expecting the BBC to be able to make the argument as to why they felt that certain individuals were worth that." GETTY Radio 4 Today presenter John Humphrys
earns £649,000 a year Former BBC chairman Lord Grade said: "I can hear the phones ringing all over the UK today. “Agents will be looking at the relative rates others are getting,
clients are going be up in arms, the competition will be looking at it. "The net result of this is inflation. There's only way this can go and that is that the talent salaries and
wages will round upwards, they won't go down. I guarantee you that." GETTY BBC bosses have been forced to reveal the salaries of their highest-earning stars Shadow culture
secretary Tom Watson said: "The BBC is one of the world's greatest broadcasters and we shouldn't be surprised that its top stars - who millions of people tune in to watch and
listen to every week - are well paid. "Labour recognises the BBC's dilemma - the need to give licence payers value for money while operating in a competitive commercial environment
against other broadcasters who do not have to disclose what they pay. "It's wrong that only a third of the BBC's highest paid stars are women, and we welcome Lord Hall's
commitment to close the gender pay gap by 2020. It would be good to see a similar commitment, and similar levels of transparency, from other media organisations - especially those who are
criticising the BBC today."