Ministers confronted with pub closures
By politics.co.uk staff
Ministers from across five government departments are meeting this afternoon to discuss the growing number of pub closures across the country.
The all-party beer group will call on the ministers to do as much as possible to prevent the decline in pub numbers caused by the recession.
Dawn Primarolo, Alan Campbell, Angela Eagle, Gerry Sutcliffe and John Healey will each update MPs on their plans to address the plight of pubs in Britain.
The number of closures per week has risen from 12 in 2007 to 35 in 2009, with an estimated 4,271 closures on 2005 levels. Nigel Evans, vice-chair of the all-party beer group, fears the situation will get worse unless action is taken.
“To help pubs in the UK we must cut red tape and needless bureaucracy and I stand by the recommendations of the community pub inquiry that I co-chaired,” he said.
“I sincerely hope that today’s summit is a wake-up call to the government and prompts them to act before it is too late.”
The beer group APG is calling on the government to make special allowances for struggling pubs.
But broadcaster BSkyB is also under pressure. Mr Evans added: “I would also like to see Sky supporting community pubs by recognising that those pubs with low profitability but high rateable values struggle to afford Sky Sports packages and I would encourage them to vary their prices accordingly.”
Ministers from the Departments of Health, Culture, Media and Sport, Communities and Local Government and the Treasury and Home Office are attending today’s meeting.
A follow-up meeting with the shadow Cabinet is planned for the future.
