The Government has been lobbied from both sides of the debate on pubco reform in the past week, as anxiety grows over whether legislation will be announced in this Parliament.
The GMB Union, which wants to see a statutory code implemented on the sector, is to present a letter to David Cameron at Downing Street today (Wednesday) asking him to support action. This will follow a protest outside Parliament and a meeting in the House of Commons.
Brigid Simmons, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, has written to MPs welcoming the recent cut in beer duty but warning against meddling in the industry. She said: “We would not want to see the benefits of two beer duty re-ductions being undermined at this stage by further unnecessary regulations that London Economics warned the Business, Innovation & Skills committee would result in as many as 1,600 additional pubs closing.”
The Fair Deal For Your Local campaign has published an open letter to Business Secretary Vince Cable saying reform was urgently needed and stressing that a market rent only option was an essential component.
At Prime Minister’s Questions last week, Parliamentary Save the Pub Group chairman Greg Mulholland urged David Cameron to “get rid of the pubco escalator”. Cameron responded: “We are looking closely at what more we can do to ensure there are fair outcomes for Britain’s publicans and Britain’s pub goers.
