Pub Companies

John Healey Excerpts

Wednesday 9th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[John Healey (Wentworth and Dearne) (Lab)]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for pressing for this debate. Does he agree that it is a good example of Parliament—all-party groups, Select Committees and the Labour Opposition—playing a part in getting the Government to do the right thing in the end? I hope that they will be toasting Toby Perkins in pubs across the country tonight.

[Toby Perkins]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for those comments, and he is entirely right. The potential exists for this to be a really significant moment, but I do not think we can go any further than that yet.

The Secretary of State’s call for evidence was certainly enthusiastically answered. He wrote to seven different organisations to ask for their views on how self-regulation was working, and he received 19 responses. That is a return rate of 271%, which is the sort of extraordinary and implausible statistical feat that we generally expect to see in a Liberal Democrat “Focus” leaflet, but there we have it, right at the heart of Government.

Before I get into the detail of how we can ensure that the Government’s announcement makes a meaningful difference, I will reflect briefly on why the debate is so important to so many Members, their constituencies and constituents and the economic and social fabric of our great country. Pubs are synonymous with our great island story, from fictional boozers brought to life, like the Rovers Return in “Coronation Street”, to pubs that have gone down in history such as Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, famously frequented by Samuel Johnson and where Mrs Perkins and I had a very pleasant lunch just a few weeks ago.

In almost every village, town or city in the land, and indeed in every Member’s constituency, there will be pubs that make us proud of our localities and say much about our areas, and which our constituents wish to see thrive. Britain’s pubs are not only important as key hubs in the community, they are economically vital. Last year, beer and pubs contributed £21 billion to UK GDP, and the Campaign for Real Ale has estimated that the average pub employs 11 people and contributes £80,000 to the local economy.

However, CAMRA recently revealed that around 18 pubs are closing every week, and countless more are fighting for their lives. As we know, when pubs close the cost of failure is felt not just in social terms but in economic terms, at a time when our faltering economy can afford it least. There are now 2,582 fewer pubs than in 2010, equating to 200 jobs lost for each week of the year.

--- Later in debate ---

[Vince Cable]

Yes, my hon. Friend is absolutely right. I shall say more about this later, but the microbreweries and innovative breweries are a major growth industry, expanding well and offering a more varied service. They are a great success story and we do not want to do anything with this new approach that will undermine them.

[John Healey]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to a statutory code of practice, but would he also accept that the viability of hundreds of pubs is damaged by high and escalating beer duty? Will he ensure, in his Department’s budget submission, that BIS Ministers also argue for an end to high beer tax and inflation-busting increases and for an end to the system that favours foreign-produced wine over British-brewed beer?

[Vince Cable]

The right hon. Gentleman is right that, as the Opposition spokesman acknowledged, a variety of factors have hit the pub industry, besides the structure of ownership. I do not know whether the right hon. Gentleman was a Treasury Minister in 2008 when the beer duty escalator was introduced.

[John Healey]

indicated dissent.

[Vince Cable]

The right hon. Gentleman shakes his head. Nevertheless, many of us in the House voted for those beer duty increases, so I cannot disown them at this stage. They are an important source of revenue, as his Government, as well as ours, realised.