Chester resident Louise Minchin is one of dozens of female stars to have signed a letter to the BBC director general urging him to ‘act now’ on pay and gender.

There was a storm on Twitter last week when it was revealed Louise was not on the BBC annual report pay list which implies she is paid less than £150,000 a year for hosting BBC Breakfast.

However, her male co-star Dan Walker is on the list for earning more than £200,000 although he explained that he gets paid exactly the same as Louise for BBC Breakfast and the difference is due to the fact he also presents Football Focus.

Dan Walker and Louise Minchin on the BBC Breakfast sofa

However, over the weekend, dozens of female stars signed a letter which was addressed to director general Tony Hall to urge him to “correct this disparity” over gender pay, which they say has been known within the corporation “for years”.

The full text of the letter is as follows:

“The pay details released in the annual report showed what many of us have suspected for many years…that women at the BBC are being paid less than men for the same work.


“You have said that you will “sort” the gender pay gap by 2020, but the BBC has known about the pay disparity for years. We all want to go on the record to call upon you to act now.

Chester based BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin is to appear on Celebrity Masterchef




The full list of signatories is: Katya Adler, Samira Ahmed, Anita Anand, Wendy Austin, Zeinab Badawi, Clare Balding, Sue Barker, Emma Barnett, Fiona Bruce, Rachel Burden, Annabel Croft, Martine Croxal, Victoria Derbyshire, Katie Derham, Lyse Doucet, Jane Garvey, Karin Giannone, Fi Glover, Joanna Gosling, Carrie Gracie, Orla Guerin, Geeta Guru-Murthy, Lucy Hockings, Mishal Husain, Alex Jones, Katty Kay, Martha Kearney, Kirsty Lang, Gabby Logan, Annita McVeigh, Kasia Madera, Emily Maitlis, Louise Minchin, Aasmah Mir, Sarah Montague, Sally Nugent, Elaine Paige, Carolyn Quinn, Angela Rippon, Ritula Shah, Kate Silverton, Charlotte Smith, Sarah Smith and Kirsty Wark.

A BBC spokesman responded: “We have made significant changes over the past three years but need to do more. Tony Hall has pledged the BBC will go further, faster. Across the BBC, the average pay of men is 10% higher than women. The national average is 18%.”