Nanny State to Force more Pubs to Close

Government plans to save the pub with more bureaucracy!

This week the British Beer & Pub Association realised figures that 52 pubs are closing every week. The reasons for the closures are varied but include the recession and record tax rises, courtesy of the unelected teetotal Son of the Manse who presides over the country in the style of Stalin.

So what have the Government announced this week to help the industry? Plans to introduce a “mandatory code” for the drinks industry at an estimated cost of £58million for the first year and £38million in subsequent years. Just what an industry needs, more bureaucracy from this Government which has attempted to regulate, control and spy on our lives in ways that would make the totalitarian regime of Honecker in the former East Germany hang its head in shame. Of course the Home Office say the code is needed to tackle anti-social disorder, but then why should the majority of pub-goers and publicans have to pay for the actions of the few?

The mandatory code is currently passing through Parliament as part of the Policing and Crime Bill. Another Law and Order bill by this authoritarian government.

This proposed law is waited against the on-trade, i.e., licensed pubs and clubs, with 4 out of the 6 national conditions in the code aimed at the on-trade, whilst 15 out of 16 of the local conditions that can be imposed by councils relate to pubs and clubs. For some reason, the Government is ignoring the problem with cheap supermarket alcohol. Are the supermarkets just better at lobbying the Government for legislation in their favour than the pub industry? The answer to that is yes.

Outlaw the Happy Hour?

One of the proposals of the Nanny state is to ban the happy hour. Hardly surprising coming from a leader who has never cracked a joke in his life. Although he did smile on during his press conference on TV earlier this week when lying about helicopter deployments in Afghanistan. The Clunking Fist has clearly lost the plot. Other proposals in this 'consultation document' would be to outlaw promotions such as, 'all you can drink for £10'. At the moment the police and local authorities via their licensing departments have the power to stop these. However they very rarely choose not to. The last thing the pub industry needs is more legislation.

We already have the plastic pint in areas where the senior police officer believe that responsible drinkers need to be served in polycarbonates. In an average city centre you could buy anything from cocaine to LSD on a Friday night, but the police only have the resources and the inclination to stop responsible drinkers from enjoying themselves.

Other proposals will force pubs to offer smaller wine and spirit measures and display point of sale information on alcohol units. The Government admitted earlier this year that the 'unit' measure of alcohol was made up – now they want our pubs to publicise this as a 'fact'. Newspeak in action.

HMG get your figures correct

The Government claims this code is needed as, in their words 'Alcohol is a key contributor to crime and disorder, which costs the country between £8-£13 billion every year'. Not sure where they got those figures from, probably via one of their fake charities such as Alcohol Concern. A discrepancy of £5 billion is a lot and throws doubt into the validity of their sums. However a fact, according to the House of Commons Library is that the alcohol industry contributes £14.79 billion to the economy every year. So the supposed cost to the country is more than paid for by the contribution made by the industry. This industry does not need more regulation, that will result in more pub closures. This is an idiotic piece of legislation that will only result in more pub closures, more job losses and subsequent loss of revenue for the Government. Unfortunately the unelected, monocular, teetotal Son of the Manse is too stupid to realise this.

The voters of Norwich have today given this Government a bloody nose, so now it's the turn of the drinkers of Britain to tell the Teetotal Jockocracy that is ruining our country where to go and please respond to this Government consultation below:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cons-2009-alcohol/

where you can also download the consultation itself. Alternatively you can visit the Axe the Beer Tax Campaign and leave your response there.