Oldham Liberal Democrat Leader welcomes Promise of Statutory Code and Pubs Adjudicator in Queens Speech

The Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Howard Sykes, has welcomed the announcement in last week’s Queens Speech that the Coalition Government intends to establish a new Statutory Code and Pubs Adjudicator to reform the big pub companies and support hard-pressed landlords.

The announcement was in direct response to the call for the introduction of these measures by the Campaign for Real Ale and many others to a Government consultation last June.

As part of this consultation, Cllr Rod Blyth wrote on behalf of the Oldham Liberal Democrat Group to the Business Secretary, Lib Dem Dr Vince Cable, supporting the proposal to establish a Statutory Code and a Pubs Adjudicator and also to express “strong support” for Dr Cable’s stated position that “a tied tenant should be no worse off than a free-of-tie tenant”.

In welcoming the announcement, Cllr Sykes said: “This will ensure that publicans are treated fairly and will crack down on the sky-high rents and beer prices that are often charged by the big pub companies.

If the Adjudicator forces the big pub companies to reduce the wholesale prices they charge publicans to match open market prices, this could result in a price fall by up to 60p a pint. As a result we should see cheaper pub prices for customers, more investment in pubs and ultimately fewer pub closures.

This campaign success is testament to the relentless campaigning by CAMRA members and branches and by members of the Fair Deal for Your Local campaign, chaired by Leeds North West Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland”.

Cllr Sykes added: “This announcement adds to the support already shown by this Government for the licensed trade. Support that has included:

– The abolition of the beer duty escalator, introduced by Labour, from 2014
– Two reductions in beer duty in successive budgets
– The creation of the ‘Community Right to Buy’ permitting local communities to purchase and save pubs coming onto the market
– The introduction of the National Planning Policy Framework with pro-pub policies”