The BBC Director-General claimed today that there was an ideological plot behind plans to “topslice” the television licence fee.

In an impassioned attack on the proposals, Mark Thompson said that the Corporation was the victim of a clique of Labour policymakers who want it to hand over £130 million a year from the levy to prop up regional news bulletins on ITV.

In a surprising display of rhetorical aggression, the BBC’s boss said that they were “ideologically focused” on attacking the Corporation’s funding structure.

In an interview with The Media Show, on Radio 4, Mr Thompson said that the topslicing created “risks . . . to the independence and ability of the BBC to deliver its services to the public”.

He said that the danger was so great that “there are no circumstances in which it will be a good idea”.

Last week’s Digital Britain White Paper concluded that licence fee money — generated from a £142.50 annual levy per household — should be shared out with other broadcasters, ro be made available for children’s programmes on other channels as well as ITV regional news. Although the licence fee has previously been spent on non-BBC purposes, such as funding the switchover to digital television, it has never been made available to ITV or other channels.

Digital Britain was prepared by Lord Carter of Barnes, the communications minister, a former No 10 adviser and chief executive of Ofcom, the communications regulator.

Mr Thompson declined to criticise Lord Carter by name, but did point the finger at Ofcom — now run by Ed Richards who, like Lord Carter, is close to ministers and is a former adviser to both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Mr Thompson added that there was the “suspicion that for some years now a small group of people are ideologically focused on the principle of getting a wedge into the licence fee”.

The stance aligns Mr Thompson with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, who have voiced concerns about topslicing, and against Labour in an election year. BBC insiders, though, are hoping that enough Labour backbenchers can be persuaded against the idea to force Mr Brown to back down.

Harking back to previous ideas generated by Ofcom, Mr Thompson said: “When Ofcom was interested in a public service publisher, it was going to take about £100 million and the licence fee looked like a good source for that. Then it was Channel 4 that was going to need perhaps £100 million and the licence fee was a good source for it. Now, we are told regional news might need £100 million.”

Sir Michael Lyons, the chairman of the BBC Trust, came out in opposition to the licence fee last week, but Mr Thompson kept a low profile, leading some to believe that the man responsible for the day-to-day running of the BBC would keep out of the debate for political reasons.

Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said: “If there is any kind of slush fund at the BBC available to other broadcaster surely the first question is whether it can be returned to the licence fee payers?”

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “We are disappointed with Mark Thompson’s comments and hope the BBC will engage constructively in the forthcoming consultation.

“The public greatly value local and regional news. We have invited the BBC and others to suggest how it can be secured for the long term. Using a small fraction of the licence fee to do so is the best and fairest idea so far, but, as we have said, we will happily consider others.”

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