Government plans overhaul of licensing laws

The Government is set to ban the sale of below-cost alcohol and beef up licensing law.

The news came as Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg unveiled a 34-page document detailing the terms of the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.

The move to ban below-cost alcohol sales fulfils one of the Conservative party's pre-election pledges, which it claimed would support British pubs and breweries by reducing the price differential between alcohol in the supermarket and in in the pub.

ALMR Chief Executive, Nick Bish, welcomed the news: “We are delighted that the Coalition Government has made tackling pocket money prices a priority. Such prices give the alcohol industry as a whole a bad name and do responsible operators no favours. The ALMR has been campaigning on this issue for some time and made a ban on below cost selling top of our shopping list when we briefed the parties ahead of the General Election," he said. 

"We are pleased that the new Government has not only listened but acted. We very much hope that they will also listen to the other points we made – the need to encourage individual responsibility not only for consumption but also behaviour rather than expecting pubs to act as policeman, the need to provide a supportive regulatory framework that recognises pubs as wealth and job creators rather than imposing new punitive burdens,” Bish added.

Meanwhile there are fears that an overhaul of the Licensing Act could spell and end to 24-hour opening.

Other aims listed in the document included a plan to double the maximum fine for under-age alcohol sales to £20,000 and to permit local councils to charge more for late-night licences.

The Government's plans, listed in the 'Crime and Policing' section of the document were:

● A ban the sale of alcohol below cost price.
● A review of alcohol taxation and pricing to ensure it tackles binge-drinking without unfairly penalising responsible drinkers, pubs and important local industries.
● An overhaul of the Licensing Act to give local authorities and the police much stronger powers to remove licences from, or refuse to grant licences to, any premises that are causing problems.
● Allowing councils and the police to shut down permanently any shop or bar found to be persistently selling alcohol to children. Doubling the maximum fine for under-age alcohol sales to £20,000.
● Permission for local councils to charge more for late-night licences to pay for additional policing.

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By Neil Gerrard

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