Licensing Hours Extensions Bill

Lord Lemos Excerpts

Friday 24th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Lemos) (Lab)]

Oh dear—the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, has presented me with a with a rhetorical challenge to which I shall not attempt to rise.

I thank my noble friend Lord Watson for sponsoring this Bill and congratulate him on a wonderfully eloquent speech. I also thank my honourable friend the Member for Wrexham, who introduced the Bill and helped secure its successful passage in the other place. The Bill has enjoyed cross-party consensus and has the Government’s full support; I have been delighted to hear the words of support from around your Lordships’ House this morning.

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Hayward, for drawing our attention to the long—though not too long—history of this important deregulatory measure. Section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003 allows the Secretary of State to relax licensing hours in England and Wales for occasions of exceptional international, national or local significance, as many noble Lords have said. Each case is considered on its merits and any order specifies the relevant times and dates. As noble Lords have noted, these orders bring practical benefits: businesses can open for longer, communities can celebrate together and licensing authorities are spared the considerable administrative burden of processing numerous individual applications. Importantly, no premises is obliged to extend its hours, but a blanket extension removes the need for temporary event notices, saving considerable time and cost.

The Bill proposes a targeted procedural change to allow such orders to be made under the negative resolution procedure, rather than the current affirmative procedure. As noble Lords have noted, this is a modest but important reform. The power has been used sparingly and only for events of genuine significance. My noble friend Lord Watson identified occasions on which we have used it, such as Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, the Coronation of His Majesty the King, the 80th anniversary of VE Day and major sporting events such as the UEFA European Championship. The proposed changes offer several advantages.

First, they reduce unnecessary and considerable administrative pressures. A single time-limited relaxation removes the need for thousands of separate notices and the associated resource demands. This is particularly valuable for the hospitality sector. A number of noble Lords have referred to the importance of the hospitality sector. As of March 2025, the hospitality sector supported 2.6 million jobs—slightly more than the noble Baroness, Lady Monckton, referred to—and 174,000 businesses across the UK.

Earlier this year, the DBT and HMT commissioned a task force to consider how the licensing regime could better support the hospitality sector. I draw attention to this because a number of noble Lords have asked what we are doing to support the hospitality sector. Since the Bill relates to licensing reform, I should put this on the record. The task force report, published in July, made 10 recommendations, the majority of which the Government support. Earlier this month, a call for evidence was launched to seek further views on these recommended actions. The call for evidence is due to close very soon, on 6 November. Proposals include a national licensing policy framework, a review of outdated licence conditions and an increase in the permitted number of temporary notices. I know that this does not answer every consideration that noble Lords have raised, but I hope it gives some reassurance that the Government are taking the licensing framework seriously and taking action.

I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Monckton, on what sounds like a wonderful project in Brighton. The North Star sounds like the perfect name. I admire what she is doing there, but she would not expect me to comment on suggestions for the Budget, and I will not. It is above my pay grade.

The second thing to which I want to draw attention, and for me the most important aspect of these reforms, on which I have spoken in your Lordships’ House before, is that these extensions serve a vital social purpose. They enable communities to come together and celebrate together—whether for royal milestones, sporting achievements or moments of rather more sombre national reflection—within licensed, regulated environments. This fosters civic pride, community cohesion and safer and more resilient communities. For my money, I emphasise that bringing communities together seems the most important benefit of this measure.

A number of noble Lords have drawn attention to the problem of timeliness that we have at the moment. Some occasions, especially sporting finals, arise at short notice, giving rise to a great deal of expectancy among the nation about where we will end up. In 2021, when the England men’s team reached the Euro 2020 final, an order was made within three days, as my noble friend Lord Watson and the noble Lord, Lord Hayward, mentioned. However, as noted, in 2023 when the England women’s team reached the World Cup final, it was not possible to extend licensing hours because we were in recess. That does not seem a very good explanation. The negative procedure would allow orders to be made even when Parliament is not sitting, ensuring a swift and proportionate response. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Bailey, for his important work on loneliness, and draw attention, as he did, to the benefit of this Bill regarding loneliness.

Concerns about reduced scrutiny, if any were to be raised, are unfounded. Under the negative resolution procedure, any order remains subject to annulment by either House, preserving Parliament’s ability to scrutinise and challenge as appropriate. The power in Section 172 will continue to be used sparingly, only for occasions of exceptional and important significance. The statutory guidance is clear. Regular special occasions should be anticipated in operating schedules, and the criteria for extensions will remain strictly applied. As the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, noted, there is no evidence that these extensions lead to problems of anti-social behaviour or disorder.

The Bill applies only to England and Wales, as licensing is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It delivers a focused procedural improvement with real-world benefits, reducing bureaucracy, supporting community celebration and enabling timely action without diminishing parliamentary oversight. The Government fully support the Bill, and I know that noble Lords do also. I am afraid that I cannot end my speech quite as wonderfully as the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, but I hope I have conveyed even a boring Minister’s enthusiasm for this measure.