The point I was making (and read other comments to this) is that it's actually entirely possible that politicians *aren't* in fact thinking like this - it just makes a good story for the Mail. Giving a good "whoosh" every time someone thinks there's a faint chance a politician might want to do something they wouldn't approve of would turn into a full-time job for most people - if this actually turns into a proposal it'll be made public, and that's when the actual political process (Parliament, etc) kicks off.

* This is the Daily Mail - a notoriously unpleasant and right-wing newspaper which leaps at any chance to run "shock horror" stories about things like this even if they aren't actually necessarily 100% true, because it sells newspapers to their target market (right-wing anti-government types).

* The Daily Mail doesn't like the BBC either.

* "Ministers are considering" is generally code for "Someone suggested this in passing". It doesn't mean at all that there's any actual policy there or anything else. Hell, it might just mean someone talked to someone in the pub who suggested it in passing.

In summary, take this story with a pinch of salt. It might become a more concrete proposal at some point in the future, but I think that'd be unlikely.